


Supermax

by bansheequeen (queenbanshee), xtremeroswellian



Category: Smallville
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Fighting, Fingering, Prison, So much violence, Teamwork, Training, Vaginal Sex, Violence, escaping, false imprisonment, injuries, partnerships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-15
Updated: 2020-05-15
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:13:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 23,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24191125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queenbanshee/pseuds/bansheequeen, https://archiveofourown.org/users/xtremeroswellian/pseuds/xtremeroswellian
Summary: Chloe and Oliver end up in a maximum security prison, but it's not exactly what it seems. (Based on a Green Arrow movie script that never got picked up.)
Relationships: Chloe Sullivan & Bart Allen, Lois Lane & Chloe Sullivan, Oliver Queen & Bart Allen, Oliver Queen/Chloe Sullivan
Kudos: 3





	1. Chapter 1

Oliver Queen was in trouble.

He gritted his teeth as the handcuffs bit into the skin of his wrists behind his back, glaring at the guards even as they eyed him with wary suspicion. "You're making a mistake," he said, shaking his head. "I _help_ people. I'm not some criminal!"

"Cop killers are the worst criminals as far as we know," one of the guards told him, punching him hard on the back.

"Shut up, playboy. You've got away with enough because of your money. It means nothing here." The other told him.

His eyes narrowed even more and he resisted the urge to stick his foot out and trip the man who'd punched him. Adrenaline was coursing through him. The whole legal process had been one big damn joke. They didn't care that he was making a difference on the streets of Star City. They didn't care that in one night he could do three times the amount of work as the average police officer. He hadn't _killed_ anyone, cop or otherwise. They were railroading him because he was a vigilante. Because it scared them that they couldn't control him. His jaw was tight as he forced himself to keep walking down the long corridor toward the main office, parading him down the hallway in front of _actual_ criminals in his Green Arrow gear.

"Get used to this," the guard to his right told him, slamming the butt of his gun against Oliver's temple. "You're never getting out, asshole."

His vision swam as pain exploded in his head. "Son of a..." Without warning, he turned, slamming his body into the guard's and pinning him to the wall with his weight.

The other guard wrapped his arm around Oliver's neck in a tight grip, "we can't kill you," he warned, "but in here, we're allowed everything else."

"You can _try_ ," he said, choking as he stomped down hard on the man's foot.

The first guard, now free, punched him hard against his stomach then placed his hands over his shoulder as he lifted his knee, which connected hard against his crotch.

He collapsed onto the floor, whacking his head on the hard concrete. His vision began to swim once again and he shut his eyes as he felt the man's boot connect with his rib cage. Maybe he'd get lucky and they'd kill him. He had a feeling this would pale in comparison to what he was going to be facing once he was turned loose in the maximum security facility for meta humans.

The two guards pulled him into his cell and one of them kicked him in the stomach again, "welcome to Supermax, Green Arrow."

Oliver slumped to the floor once more as the world around him grew dark and still.

* * *

She took a deep breath and pulled the blanket over him then with a wet pillow case, winced as she wiped the blood off his forehead slowly.

His eyebrows furrowed a little at the light touch and he jerked awake, his eyes wide.

Blinking, she pulled her hand away quickly and stared down at him but remained silent.

He pulled away from her, wincing as dizziness washed over him. Dammit, he hated head wounds. "Who are you?"

"You shouldn't move," she told him, sitting on her heels as she watched him closely, dropping her hands to her lap.

He pressed a hand to his head, eying her warily for a moment. "How did you get in here?"

"I saw you were hurt," she told him, "I figured you'd be a big target considering what you're here for."

He leaned back against the cold wall behind him, exhaling slowly as his gaze swept over her. He could tell even though she was sitting that she wasn't very tall. She was skinny, her hair short and blond, and she looked exhausted. Like she hadn't slept in weeks. And given where they were, he figured that was probably likely. "How long have you been here?"

"I don't know." She told him, "it's hard to tell. Weeks at least."

His gaze drifted to the silver bracelet around her wrist, and he glanced at the one on his own, his eyebrows furrowing. "What is this? Some kind of tracking system?"

She smirked a little and arched her eyebrows, "it's an explosive device," she told him, "if you get out of the prison perimeter, it will go off and blow you up and take anything within two feet of you with it."

Oliver lifted his gaze to stare at her. "Are you _serious_?"

"Yes." She sighed and shifted on the floor so she was sitting down indian style. "And that's assuming anyone could find the way out in the first place."

"What do you mean?" He frowned.

"They call it a parallax device," she told him, sighing softly, "the hallways and rooms change every night so nothing is in the same place as it was the day before, which makes it impossible to plan an escape because you never know where anything will be and it's never in the same place twice."

He blinked at that. Sure, he'd dealt with some weird shit before, but a prison that actually changed its physical form? That was almost too much for his throbbing head to contemplate. "And given that you're here, apparently they don't separate the inmates by gender."

"They don't bother locking us up," she told him, motioning to the open cell door, "it's hard to even find the same person twice in here."

"That might actually be a good thing," he mumbled, rubbing a hand over his jaw and wincing as it throbbed.

She sighed softly and shrugged, "I'm Chloe." She offered.

He watched her for a moment, cocking his head to the side. "Oliver. But I guess you already knew that."

"Yeah," she told him then arched her eyebrows a little, "I don't understand why you're here, you're not meta, are you?"

"No, I'm not," he admitted, raising his eyebrows as well. "Are you?"

"No." She watched him closely for a moment, "I'm meteor infected."

He frowned. "Meteor-infected?" He shook his head a little.

"There is a type of meteor rock in Kansas that when you're exposed to it in certain situations, it can give you powers." And then drive you crazy. But she kept that part to herself.

"And what power did the meteor rocks give you?" he asked, watching her curiously.

"I can heal people," she told him, "but the bracelets stop your powers from working too."

"Wait." He leaned forward a little. "You're telling me you've been arrested and thrown in here because you can _heal_ people?"

Chloe smirked a little and shook her head, "I'm a good hacker, having a power was just the excuse they needed."

"But if this place moves around and you can't find people twice, how do they even manage to get a hold of you to make you do any hacking for them?" he questioned.

"They know where to find us," she told him, "they know where things are. The guards get updated maps every day and these," she raised her wrist, "show up on their maps so they know exactly where each one of us is."

"Basically leaving all of the power and control to the people in charge, and the rest of us flying blind," he murmured.

"You catch up quickly," she told him, sighing softly and pulling away so she could lean back against the wall.

"I try," he responded, sighing, as well.

She was quiet for a long moment, starting at the open cell door, "who do you think framed you?"

Oliver blinked at that. "Wait, what makes you assume I was framed?" he asked curiously.

Chloe arched her eyebrows a little, "I was reading about the Green Arrow before I got in here," she told him, "and it doesn't sound like your usual style."

He gazed at her, searching her eyes. She believed him. He didn't even know her and she believed him. "You're right. It's not," he admitted, letting out a breath. "But it's hard telling who framed me. I don't exactly have a shortage of enemies."

She nodded a little, "and considering you're here instead of a regular prison, I'm sure they need you for something," she pointed out, glancing at him.

Oliver's eyes narrowed. "What exactly do they have you hacking?"

"They don't exactly share," she told him, "they tell me to take firewalls down and when it gets close to the actual information, they tell me to stop."

He considered that for a moment. "So there's more to all of this than a hatred for people with abilities. They want to harness those abilities for themselves for some unknown purpose." Great. Because that seemed to bode well.

"And they want to figure out what causes the mutations on people with abilities," she told him, "I'm guessing so they can make their own metas."

"Is that fact or speculation?" he asked, his eyes widening a little.

"Speculation," she admitted, taking a deep breath, "but this place is obviously more than just a prison, it's an experiment."

Oliver raked a hand through his hair, falling silent at that.

Chloe pursed her lips together and looked down too, sighing softly. "I guess you should try and get some rest. You seem to be pretty hurt."

"What about you?" he asked, looking up at her once more.

"What about me?" She asked, turning to look at him.

"Well, if you leave, we might not ever see each other again," he pointed out.

Chloe smiled slightly at that and shrugged, "does it really matter?"

"It does if you'd rather have an ally close by."

She paused at that and sat up a little, watching him for a moment, "there is no way out."

Oliver held her gaze. "There's _always_ a way out if you try hard enough."

Chloe stared at him for a moment, arching her eyebrows, "we'd both die."

"Maybe. Maybe not." He leaned forward a little. "Isn't trying better than just sitting back and letting these people use us for whatever purpose they're working toward?"

She searched his eyes and nodded slightly, taking a deep breath, "I guess there isn't much to lose."

A smile tugged at his mouth and he held his hand out toward her, raising his eyebrows.

Chloe hesitated slightly then took his hand, shaking it as she held his gaze.

He smiled faintly, shaking her hand as well. "Partners?"

"Or something like that," she agreed, nodding slightly.

"All right." He glanced toward the mattress. "You take the bed."

She shook her head, "you're hurt. Take the bed. I'll be fine with a pillow and a blanket."

"I'm not going to make a woman sleep on the _floor_."

"You're not _making_ me do anything if that's what I want," she pointed out, standing up and taking a pillow from the bed as well as a blanket before settling down on the floor.

He narrowed his eyes. "How many people in your life have called you stubborn?" he asked.

"Probably as many people as you had calling you stubborn," she told him, glancing at him over her shoulder before pulling the blanket over herself, "rest and hopefully we'll both still be here when we wake up."

"Or we'll wake up and realize it's all been a bad dream," he countered, reluctantly sitting down on the edge of the bed and then stretching out on the mattress.

Chloe smirked a little when he took the bed then closed her eyes, shaking her head, "It's not. But you'll find out in the morning."

Oliver sighed, his ribs beginning to ache from the beating he'd taken earlier. He had a feeling she was probably right.


	2. Chapter 2

  


Chloe shifted slightly on the floor the next morning, her body stiff from sleeping on the hard surface but as soon as she woke up, she remembered _why_ she was sleeping there. She opened her eyes and looked over to the bed, a tiny smile appearing on her lips when she saw Oliver Queen sleeping on it. It had worked. Apparently the entire prison changed places during the night but as long as they were together in the same room they wouldn't get separated and that was a relief.

She had no idea how long she'd been there for, but the last thing she remembered before it was finding Lois nearly dead and then light glowing through her as she healed her cousin. Of course she hadn't known what that was at the time, but once she'd been brought into that place, they told her that was what happened along with charges for hacking into the Belle Reeve and Summerholt's private databases. She knew it was a bullshit charge, but it didn't matter, there was no way out if they wanted to keep her around.

At least now she had an ally, or at least that's what he was calling himself.

He shifted slightly on the bed, his eyebrows furrowing as pain flickered through him, waking him from slumber. He opened his eyes slowly and his gaze fell on her, a confused expression crossing his features and then recognition dawned on him. Apparently it hadn't all been a bad dream.

Chloe took a deep breath when she saw him looking at her and nodded a little, "it worked," she said quietly.

He rubbed a hand over his face slowly, sitting up. "I see that."

"Not as well as you'd hoped," she said, sitting up too and stretching her back with a wince.

"A lot of worse ways to wake up than a beautiful blond at my bedside," he told her with a small smirk.

She blinked then looked back at him, arching her eyebrows as she stared at him but didn't say anything.

He shrugged, having the good grace to look a little sheepish. "I'm guessing we don't get pancakes for breakfast."

"No." She confirmed, "but they will feed us. I guess they want to keep us healthy enough."

"Yeah, hard for them to use us if we're too exhausted and starving to crawl out of bed in the mornings."

Chloe nodded slightly and ran her fingers through her hair, "they will come get us for food soon."

"Did you get any sleep?" he questioned.

"Enough," she nodded, looking up at him, "did you?"

"Yeah, I pretty well passed out," Oliver confessed.

She smiled a little at that and nodded slightly, "good, you probably needed it. You've been through a lot before this, right?"

"Well, I've been rotting in a tiny jail cell for a few weeks awaiting trial."

"Right." Chloe nodded a little, "I guess this is an upgrade, then." There was a hint of teasing in her voice.

A smile tugged at his mouth. "Minus the part where the guards beat the crap out of me, anyway."

"Yeah, I saw that," she admitted, pulling her knees up against her chest and looking up at him, "you really should just... keep your mouth shut in the future if you wanna avoid those."

"I figured that out. Unfortunately I'm not real great with taking orders from assholes."

She took a deep breath at that, "I don't know who is in charge of this place," she told him, looking up at him, "but I'm pretty sure they won't suffer any consequences if they beat you to death."

"Good point." He stretched a little, wincing painfully.

Chloe winced too when he did, "did you break something?"

"Hopefully not." He rested a hand lightly against his ribs.

She pursed her lips together and looked at him for a moment, "maybe we should wrap one of the smaller sheets around your ribs."

"You think it'll make that much difference?" he asked uncertainly, glancing over at her.

"I don't know," she shrugged, stretching her legs in front of her before standing up, "can't hurt, right?"

"I guess not." He let out a breath before tugging at the top sheet by the foot of the mattress.

Chloe watched him and nodded a little, "do you want me to..?" She trailed off, arching her eyebrows a little.

Oliver looked up. "If you wouldn't mind. I'm not sure how well I can maneuver to do it myself."

She smiled a little and nodded at him, "I figured," she said, holding out her hand for the sheet.

He held it out to her wordlessly, their fingers brushing.

Chloe pursed her lips a little and looked down at the sheet, holding it in half before looking at him, "you'll have to open your jumpsuit," she said awkwardly.

Oliver rose to his feet and unzipped the zipper on the front of the gray jumpsuit he was wearing. He didn't even _want_ to know who'd changed him out of his Green Arrow gear and into the prison garb.

She held her breath as she looked down at his chest, at first because of all the bruises all over his torso, but also because of his perfect chest and stomach under all of them.

"Looks pretty bad, huh?" He shifted awkwardly.

"Yeah..." she admitted, deciding to go with that. She lifted an end of the sheet to his stomach and looked up at him, "hold that?"

Nodding a little, he held the sheet against his stomach, watching her. "Anything else I should know before we run into any possible enemies?"

She pursed her lips together and shook her head slightly. "Yes and no," she said quietly, "there is something else going on, means to an end kind of thing, I just haven't been able to figure out what the end is yet."

Oliver's eyebrows furrowed a little. "So what are the means?"

"We are," she told him as she walked in front of him before going around again with the sheet.

"You and I specifically? Or others, too?"

"Everyone," she told him, tugging on an end of the sheet as she tried to rip it in half so she could tie it around him, "they are keeping all these people with abilities in here, most of us for no good reason at all, and they are keeping us all powerless. Probably until they need us for whatever reason, like they've been using me to hack for them."

Oliver considered that for a moment. "The judge at my trial thought it would be too easy for me to escape a regular prison. But I'm just human. I don't have any powers or special abilities. I'm just good with a bow and arrow."

"You're a vigilante, you managed to take down criminals faster and with more ease than most cops, your physical abilities may not be meta human, but they are above 'just human' from what I heard." She sighed softly and held the sheet out to him, "can you rip this in half?"

He took it from her, ripping it easily and then pausing, raising his eyebrows a little. "...right. Got it."

Chloe arched her eyebrows and smirked a little at how easily her point was made. She took one of the halves and wrapped it around him before tying a knot with the other half.

"Thanks for this," he said quietly.

"No problem," she said sincerely, "is it too tight?"

"No, it's good," he assured her, meeting her eyes and holding his breath for a moment.

Chloe looked back at him holding his gaze for a second then smiling awkwardly and looking away, "good, it should help."

Nodding a little, he glanced toward the open cell door, tensing when he spotted the tall man standing there.

She stilled when he did and turned to look over at the door, her eyes widening when she saw a guard by the door. Pursing her lips together, she looked down and away.

"Food," he barked at them, "now."

Oliver glanced from the guard to Chloe and back again. "Show us the way, Hoss."

Chloe's eyes widened and she shot Oliver a warning look but before she could do anything, the guard had grabbed Oliver by the front of his jumpsuit.

"Heard all about how you like to take a beating, Queen." He told him, punching him in the stomach with his free hand.

He gasped, doubling over in pain. "Son of a..."

Her jaw clenched as she stepped closer to Oliver, but paused when the guard smirked down at her.

"Want one too?" He offered, stepping closer to her.

She didn't say anything, just stared up at him, hands curling into fists.

Oliver's jaw tightened and without warning, he moved, slamming the other man against the far wall and pressing his arm hard into his neck. "I could kill you right now," he warned darkly.

"Stop!" Chloe warned, wrapping her arm around Oliver's free arm and pulling him away, but as she did, the guard used her closeness to punch her on the face.

His eyes darkened and he punched the guard, hearing the satisfying crack of the man's nose breaking beneath his knuckles. "You like hitting women, you jackass?" He threw him hard up against the wall again.

She lifted her hand to her throbbing jaw and shook her head, "stop," she gasped again, eyes blurry with tears from the pain.

The guard groaned loudly in pain as he hit the wall, glaring at Oliver as blood gushed from his nose. He stumbled out of the cell and closed the gate behind him, glaring, "fucker, you can both starve."

He smirked at the man as he stormed away, then he turned to look at Chloe, moving to her side. "You all right?"

She glared up at him as she moved to sit down on the bed.

Oliver winced. "I'm sorry," he said, his voice sincere as he moved to sit down beside her.

Chloe didn't say anything, she rubbed her cheek gently and crossed her legs over the bed, staring down at her lap. "If you want to have _any_ chance of getting out of here, you will need to learn to shut up and stop attracting attention to yourself." She told him tightly.

Sighing softly, he leaned back against the wall beside the bed, staring down for a moment, as well. He rubbed a hand over his face tiredly. "I'll do my best."

She lifted her head and turned to look at him, "if that's your best you better let me know now, because I don't want to be anywhere near you."

He couldn't blame her for that. "Noted," he said quietly, hesitantly reaching out and tilting her chin up a little so he could look at her face, already swelling where the other man had hit her. "I'm really sorry."

Chloe looked at him for a moment then pulled her face away from his hand, looking back down, "we might as well go back to sleep, there is nothing else to do." She said blankly, her chest tightening as she stared down at her lap. She had actually been somewhat hopeful that with his help, they could get out of there, more hopeful than she'd been since she was brought in anyway. He _was_ a hero after all. But now she felt like allowing herself to be hopeful had been a very stupid idea.

Oliver shut his eyes as she pulled away from him. He hated that his stupidity had not only gotten her hurt, but had probably made her lose any faith in him she may have had. "You take the bed. I'm not tired," he said softly.

She didn't argue this time, instead, she stood up and picked up the pillow and blanket she had used and laid down by the foot of the bed, curling up so he'd have plenty of space still if he wanted it as she turned to face the wall and pulled the blanket over herself.

He watched her, his chest tightening as he picked up the other blanket and gently covered her with it too, climbing off the bed and moving across the cell.

Chloe blinked, surprised by the gesture and glanced over her shoulder toward him then back at the wall and sighed deeply, closing her eyes even though she knew there was no way she'd be able to sleep anytime soon.

Oliver dropped down onto the floor, gritting his teeth with determination. He might be in prison for something he didn't do, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to be prepared for what he could. He began doing pushups, ignoring the various aches and pains in his body as he focused. He wouldn't miss the chance to get out when they actually had it. And that meant he needed to stay in topical physical form.

No matter what.


	3. Chapter 3

Chloe stirred and stretched a few hours later. She hadn't thought she'd manage to sleep, especially not with the faint noises Oliver had been making but apparently between the hunger, the soft mattress and being warm with the two blankets, she had managed after all. She lifted a hand to rub it over her face and winced as she touched her jaw, only then remembering being punched.

Frowning, she sat up and turned away from the wall, not surprised to see the cell door was still locked. She sighed softly and looked over to the corner of the room, arching her eyebrows when she saw Oliver sitting there, eyes closed seemingly meditating. She stood up and stretched slowly, sighing softly. She was absolutely starving.

He heard faint movement from the bed and slowly opened his eyes, feeling calm and centered as he looked over at her. "Hey."

She watched him for a moment, "what are you doing?" She asked quietly but curiously.

"I was meditating," he told her, rolling his neck a little. "I do that after I work out."

"What for?" She asked, looking down at him.

"It helps ground me," he admitted. "Have you ever tried it?"

"No," she told him, sitting back down on the edge of the bed, "not really into the exercising thing."

"We're going to need to train then."

"What for?" She asked, frowning at him.

"Because you need to learn how to fight," he told her, raising his eyebrows a little.

"What if I can't?" She cocked her head a little, staring at him.

"Can't learn or can't fight?"

"Can't fight."

"Why can't you?" he asked uncertainly.

"I don't know," she told him, arching her eyebrows, "I've never really tried, I might suck at it." Mostly she didn't want to get her hopes up again and believe that he could actually get her to be a decent fighter and able to save her own ass.

Oliver cocked his head to the side and studied her for a long moment. "Won't know until you try."

She held his gaze and shrugged, "I guess not. But should you be doing that with your ribs?"

"They're not broken," he told her.

"How can you tell?" She asked, keeping her eyes on him.

"I've had broken ribs before." Oliver shrugged. "These are just bruised."

Chloe considered him for a moment then sat down on the floor, in front of him, "did you get hurt a lot? Being the Green Arrow?"

Oliver paused for a moment, considering her. He hadn't ever talked to anyone about what it was like being Green Arrow, about the things he'd seen and done. And every instinct he had was telling him that if anyone was worth trusting, it was the woman sitting before him. "More than I'd like to have," he admitted.

She crossed her legs in front of herself and searched his eyes, "why did you do it?"

He fell silent for a few seconds, then leaned back against the wall behind him. "I made a lot of mistakes when I was younger. Stupid mistakes. Ones that hurt people." He swallowed hard. "And then I got stranded on this island."

"I read about that," she admitted, "it must have been horrible."

"It wasn't pleasant," he confirmed, smiling faintly. "But it taught me a hell of a lot."

"Is that how you learned the whole archery thing?" She asked, surprised he was actually answering her questions when he really didn't know much more than her first name and about her ability, which in a way was one of her biggest secrets, but still.

He shook his head. "No, I learned archery when I was a lot younger. I just hadn't done it in a long time. I didn't see the point, you know? It didn't seem to matter."

"I guess it's not as handy in the city," she nodded, the hint of a smirk on her lips.

He smirked back at her, amused. "It never occurred to me how useful it could be until I had been stranded alone for months."

"How did you remain sane, though?" She asked, figuring she could take some tips from him and then she smirked more, "did you find a volley ball and name it Wilson?"

A short chuckle escaped him. "No." He shook his head again. "I focused on making sure my shelter stayed together. And trying to find a way to get rescued. And keeping enough food and weapons handy."

"There were other people there, right? A heroin farm or something like that?" She asked, the details fuzzy since it had been a while since she'd read the article about it.

Oliver grimaced a little. "Not exactly. A couple of drug runners made an impromptu stop at the island after kidnapping two marine biology students off the boat they were studying on." He sighed very softly, thinking about Tess.

"Oh." Chloe frowned, "what happened to them?"

"They killed one of them," he said quietly.

"I'm sorry," she said sincerely.

He shook his head a little. "There was nothing I could do at the time. I was half-dead. There were poisonous flowers on the island, but I didn't know it."

"How did you get out?" She asked, arching her eyebrows and wishing she could remember more details about the story back from when she read about it.

"Fortunately for me one of the marine biology students knew enough about poisonous plants to find leeches and put them on me." He grimaced a little. "They got rid of the poison. I used a homemade arrow to graze one of the guys with the same flower I'd been poisoned with."

"And then you stole their boat, right?" She said, vaguely remembering watching clips from the press conference on the news.

Oliver nodded, watching her intently. "And the rest is history."

"So once you got out you figured you wanted to use the skills you had picked up to help people?"

"That actually happened while I was there. I realized I'd been wasting my life on things that didn't matter and I was ready to make a difference. I wanted to do something good in the world," he said honestly.

"What made you decide to become a vigilante, though? I mean, you have a bunch of money, you could have just donated it or something," Chloe pointed out.

"It just didn't seem like enough," he told her, shrugging. Not that he didn't do that, too.

"Did you hear about any other vigilantes or did you just come up with the idea for yourself?"

Oliver raised his eyebrows, amused by all the questions. He was starting to wonder if she'd been a reporter in a past life. "It was an idea that began to formulate while I was still on the island. And my favorite color is green, so..."

Chloe nodded slightly, not really noticing that she was asking so much. She had always been intrigued by the idea of heroes and what led people to risk their lives and help other people. Clark had his powers and she had no doubt that that was why he did it, but Oliver was just human. A skilled human, but human nonetheless. No powers, no advantages over anyone else. "What does it feel like?"

"What, specifically?" he asked, his eyebrows furrowing.

"Being out there," she shrugged, "helping people like that and knowing that you're responsible for making them feel safer."

He was silent for a few moments. "Kind of amazing," he confessed. "I just wish I was still able to be out there doing it."

"Do you think you'll ever going to be able to do it again?" Chloe asked, searching his eyes, "I mean, even if we get out of here, they know your identity now, right?"

"Yeah. I don't know," he admitted. "I don't know how that would work." He gazed back at her. "And now there will always be people who'll wonder if Green Arrow is really just a murderer at heart."

Chloe's jaw tightened a little at that and she shook her head, "if we ever get out, I plan on letting everyone know exactly what goes on in here."

He cocked his head to the side. "How?"

"I'm a reporter," she told him, "and even if the mass media won't publish it first, I will post it on blogs and smaller newspapers everywhere I can."

A faint smile tugged at his mouth.

"What?" She asked, frowning a little.

"I was just wondering if you'd been a reporter in a past life," he told her with a wink.

"Oh..." she paused a little and shook her head, "I don't know about past life, but I was trying to become one this life before I ended up in here."

"Something tells me your dream's going to come true. And I'll do what I can to help you spread the word about this place."

Chloe watched him for a moment, searching his eyes, "it would be a big help."

Oliver nodded slightly. "We're going to make it out of here, Chloe." His voice was quiet, but confident.

She held her breath and looked at him for a moment then down at her lap and nodded slightly, "I guess it's between being in here for the rest of our lives or at least trying to get out."

"So we'll need to start training," he said softly.

Pursing her lips together, she looked up at him again, "how do we do this?"

"I'm not going to lie. It's going to be a lot of work," he told her, watching her carefully.

"How long do you think it will take me to be at least decent?" Chloe asked quietly.

"A few weeks at least. If we train regularly anyway."

"We don't have a lot to do, so we can train all the time," she told him, sitting up a little and holding his gaze.

"Yeah?" He raised his eyebrows.

"At least it will make time go by faster." Chloe pointed out, shrugging slightly.

"This is true." He nodded a little.

Chloe nodded a little and stood up, looking down at him, "should we get started or are you too tired?"

Oliver rose to his feet. "Let's get to work."


	4. Chapter 4

  


Oliver led the way down the corridor, following one of the guards toward the cafeteria when they came to get him and Chloe for lunch. He glanced at her over his shoulder, winking at her before facing forward once more. They'd spent the last two--three?--weeks together, training almost endlessly until they were both exhausted with no option left but to sleep. But even in that short amount of time, he was pleased to see how fast of a learner she was, how easily she picked things up. It was just training her until the moves were like second nature to her that was taking time. Since his first day at Supermax, after he'd broken the guard's nose, they'd kept their distance from him _and_ from Chloe. They were on guard, aware of what he was capable of. He was just relieved that it hadn't turned out worse.

Once they'd made it to the cafeteria, the guard disappeared into the crowd of inmates, and Oliver slowed his steps so that he and Chloe didn't risk getting separated. He always stuck close by her when they were out amongst the rest of the people because he was never sure what was going to happen. Her small size made her an obvious target for anyone with a bad idea, and while he hadn't spent a lot of time in prison himself, he wasn't stupid. He knew the kind of things that happened there. He knew that most of it went unreported, and that that got reported mostly went unpunished. Well, it wasn't going to happen on his watch unless they killed him first.

"Smells like mystery meat again," he said wryly as they headed toward the counter.

"I don't care," she muttered, standing next to him and glancing up at him as she picked up a tray, "I'm starving."

Because of the training and all the energy it required, she'd been eating everything she could get her hands on, often hiding a couple of rolls or fruit in her pockets so she could snack on it later. She felt a lot better about the whole training thing now that she was actually making progress but she was still _thinking_ too much about her moves according to him. He said she had to relax and let her body do the thinking for her, to rely on her instincts and just... fight.

They had managed to stick together since the first day she found him and she was surprised that no one had given them problems about it, but she was also grateful. She felt a lot safer with him around, not to mention it was good to have the company. Someone she could trust and talk to and someone who she knew was obviously one of the good guys, regardless of how he'd been framed and thrown in there, she believed in him.

"Yeah, me too," he admitted, grimacing a little as one of the guards dropped some of the meat onto his tray with a sickening plop. And then it was on to limp green beans and mushy carrots. When they got out of this mess, he was going to buy a fancy gourmet restaurant. Possibly in France. And they would eat there every night until they both gained back the weight they'd lost.

She sighed deeply and looked down at her plate, picking up the tray and heading to one of the tables, "I'm pretty sure I won't have any good taste buds left by the time they let us go," she told him, careful with her words in case they were overheard.

"Maybe they'll have a transplant for taste buds by then," he teased, glancing down at her as he followed her to the table and set his tray down.

"I think I'll pass," Chloe told him as she placed her tray down, then paused when she didn't see his tray next to hers, just heard the loud noise as it fell to the floor.

"Green _Arrow_ ," one of the three men that now surrounded Oliver said.

He tensed immediately, even as he turned slowly to face the three men, raising his eyebrows. "Something I can do for you, Boys?" He arched an eyebrow, quickly sizing them up.

Chloe turned around and stepped forward, looking from Oliver to the three men, two of them were quite large, but the third one she knew she could take.

"You put us here," one of the bigger men answered.

"Yeah," the skinny one went on, smirking, "we came to thank you."

"Actually, you put yourselves here," Oliver responded, raising his other eyebrow. "But if you want to give me the credit, that's fine with me." He eyed them warily.

"If you'll take the credit, you can take the rest," the third one replied, lifting a hand, ready to punch him.

Fortunately for him, he saw it coming and easily blocked the punch, delivering a punch of his own to the man's gut before turning and grabbing hold of the second man's jumpsuit collar and pitching him forward over the lunch table. He glared at the third man. "You want to go?"

The last and smallest man stared at Oliver then quickly walked away.

Chloe held her breath, smirking as she watched him closely. She had been able to tell each and every move he was going to make and that excited her, but also, he did look kind of amazing, taking them down without breaking a sweat and just taking charge.

It was... inspiring.

Oliver turned back to the first man, the one he'd punched. "We done here?" he asked, his voice low, watching the other man get up off the ground slowly from the corner of his eye.

The man stared at him, grunting before turning away.

Chloe stepped forward once all three of them had left and placed a hand on his arm, "come on," she said quietly, her eyes bright as she looked up at him.

He turned to look at her, relaxing a little at the expression on her face and smiling faintly. "Think we can eat in peace now?"

"Looks like I'll have to share my food with you, but I _think_ you made your point." She told him, smirking slightly.

"I was sort of forced to," he pointed out, glancing down at her tray and then up at her once more.

She nodded a little and stared at him, nudging him with her arm before taking a seat.

His smile widened just a little as he sat down beside her, eying the food for a minute and making a face. "This is worse than hospital food."

"I know," she told him, picking up the fork and taking a bite of the meat before holding the fork out to him, "incentive?"

Oliver met her eyes, holding her gaze for a moment, and then taking the fork from her. "Most definitely."

Pursing her lips together, she stared at him for a moment then smiled a little before turning back to the tray and picking up a piece of bread.

* * *

He lay awake that night, Chloe beside him on the bed. They'd given up taking turns on the floor after a few days because whoever got stuck with the floor wound up sore the rest of the day. He stared up at the ceiling blankly. "You awake?" he whispered, voice just barely audible.

"Yeah." She said quietly, she had been facing the wall when he spoke so she turned her head slightly toward him. It was earlier than usual for them, but considering they didn't eat as much as they would have liked, they didn't have as much energy to keep practicing.

"I can't sleep," he admitted.

Chloe frowned a little at that and shifted, turning on her back and looking over at him. "What's wrong?"

A smile touched his mouth and he shook his head. "Nothing, I'm just wide awake." He paused for a moment. "I go through long bouts of insomnia."

"Oh," she nodded a little, cocking her head, "you think it's because we didn't train as long today?" She was oddly comfortable with him, probably because he was the only one she had there, but even laying in bed like this, so close and... intimately, in a way.

"Maybe," he said, glancing at her sideways. "And I miss being out there." His voice was quiet.

"Yeah," she sighed softly and nodded, "I do too. Probably not in the same way you do, though."

"What do you miss?" he asked. For all the talking they'd done about him and his life as Green Arrow, they hadn't talked much about her life.

"My dad," she said quietly, looking down, "my best friend and my cousin. Going to work and I guess even going to classes..."

Oliver turned onto his side so he was facing her. "Tell me about them," he whispered.

Chloe bit down on her bottom lip and glanced over at him, shrugging a little, "Lois, my cousin," she started, "she's... really loud and she means well but she always gets into trouble, when we were younger, she always got me into trouble with her." Chloe said, smiling a little.

He smiled at that, as well. "The terrible twosome?" he teased.

"Something like that," Chloe told him, smiling a little. "She's the only person I ever healed."

"What happened to her that you had to?" he asked curiously.

"I don't know exactly," she said, taking a deep breath, "her ex-boyfriend was in trouble and she went after him to help him, he was hiding in a dam and she called me asking for help. I got there and she had been stabbed," Chloe swallowed hard and looked away from him, "I just... picked her up and all of the sudden, I felt all my energy being drained from me, but I could feel it passing on to her and I could feel the stab wound in my stomach too."

His eyes widened a little at that and he propped his head up on one hand. "Wait, you actually took on her injury in order to heal her?"

"I don't _know_ ," she admitted, looking up at him, "I passed out just as she was waking up and I woke up in..." she looked away then back at him, "I woke up in a morgue."

"Christ," he whispered, shaking his head. "That must have been scary as hell."

"Yeah," she breathed, "but when I woke up, they were already there." And that had been a lot worse than waking up next to a dead body.

He hesitated a moment. "Did they hurt you?"

"No..." she said quietly, "they just told me I was being investigated and that I was under arrest." Chloe looked away, her chest tight all of the sudden, "I'm not even sure what they told my dad about what happened to me."

Oliver shut his eyes. "I'm so sorry," he whispered.

She nodded slightly and took a deep breath, "I just wish I could at least call him, tell him I'm alive and-- and make sure he's okay. And Lois too." Chloe whispered, bending her legs at her knees, wanting to curl up, but the bed wasn't big enough for her to.

He was silent for a moment, then he shifted a little on the bed, sliding his hand beneath her pillow. "Come here." His voice was quiet.

Her chest clenched painfully at the offer, she looked up at him, hesitating for a moment then turned toward him and shifted closer, into his arms. She hadn't been really thinking about her dad, Lois and Clark since they started training. He kept her busy, tired her out, made it easier to focus on what she could do and now what she couldn't, but now she felt guilty because she had the feeling they all thought she was dead and she had no doubt it had broken her dad's heart. And considering what both Lois and Clark went through the last time, when she faked her death... she didn't want to think about how they were dealing with it and it just made her want to fight harder to get out of there.

He slid his arms around her, tangling one hand in her hair as he held her close, and falling silent. He rubbed her back gently with his other hand, resting his chin atop her head. His own chest was tight and part of him wished he hadn't brought it up at all. The last thing he'd wanted to do was cause her pain.

Chloe closed her eyes and wrapped her arm around him, curling up as much as she could into his embrace, not really thinking about how close they were, but she was tired, hungry and upset and she needed the comfort he was offering, even if she wouldn't consciously admit it. "Sorry," she whispered after a long moment, but didn't pull away.

"You have nothing to apologize for," he said softly, not pulling away from her either. He couldn't remember the last time anyone had actually _hugged_ him, and there was something oddly comforting about holding her.

She kept her eyes closed for a long moment, not wanting to pull away, but when the question suddenly came to her, she couldn't stop herself. Chloe lifted her head and looked up at him without really pulling away, "what about you?" She murmured, "who do you miss?"

Oliver held his breath for a moment, then shook his head. "I think I'm the lucky one here. There isn't anyone I miss."

Her face fell a little and she shook her head slightly, her eyes tearing up a little more, "I don't think that makes you lucky," she whispered, feeling even sadder but this time, it was for him.

His chest tightened at her words and he fell silent, pressing a kiss to her forehead without thinking about it. "Come on. We should try and get some sleep," he murmured, not letting her go.

Chloe took a deep, shaky breath and let it out slowly as she tightened her arm around him. "You won't be alone anymore," she whispered firmly despite the lump in her throat as she closed her eyes, "when we get out of here."

Oliver rested his forehead against hers, closing his eyes, as well. "I'd miss _you_ ," he murmured, almost inaudibly.

She opened her eyes, her heart skipping a beat as she realized how close together their faces were. But instead of pulling away, she nodded slightly and closed her eyes once more, then lifted her free hand to his chest, fingers wrapping around his jumpsuit as she whispered, "me too."

A smile tugged at his mouth at her agreement and he felt his body beginning to relax. "Night, Chloe."

"Night," she murmured, her fingers unclenching from his uniform as she fell asleep too, feeling even safer than she had before.


	5. Chapter 5

  
  


He woke slowly the next morning, and even as he stirred toward consciousness, he knew _something_ wasn't right. His eyebrows furrowed as he wrapped his arm around Chloe's...pillow. He opened his eyes, startled when he realized she was no longer beside him. He sat up quickly, his gaze darting around the cell.

She was gone.

And his cell door was shut.

He rose to his feet and crossed the small width of the floor, not surprised to find that the door was locked. "Hey!" he shouted, shaking it by the bars.

It took a few moments but one of the guards that was passing the hallway paused, "shut up, Queen," he said, glaring at him as a few others followed him.

"Where _is_ she?" he demanded, shaking the door again.

He ignored him, but one of the prisoners that was being led him paused, glancing at the line he'd been following then back at the other guy, "you okay?"

Oliver raised his eyebrows a little. The other guy couldn't have been more than seventeen, tops. Not that that mattered to the people in charge at Supermax. "Have you seen a blond girl around? About your height? Pretty? Green eyes?"

He shook his head a little and frowned, "sorry dude, but I'll keep an eye out."

"Thanks, Man. What's your name?" he asked curiously, raising his eyebrows.

"Bart," he told him, "yours?"

"Oliver," he answered, managing a small smile. "Nice to meet you, Bart."

Bart nodded and smiled a little, "hope you find her soon."

"Thanks. Me too," he answered, raking a hand through his hair.

He nodded and glanced at the line, nodding at Oliver again before running to catch up.

He blew out a breath, rubbing his hands over his face as he backed away from the door. Sooner or later they'd have to let him out so he could eat. He'd find her then.

Somehow.

* * *

It was a couple of days later and Bart was bored out of his mind. He _hated_ this place and he hated that he had ended up here because he had stolen some crappy map from the Luthor mansion and now he couldn't even run out because he couldn't _run_ period. Not fast enough to vanish anyway, just boring, normal speed run.

He was tapping his for against his tray, staring down at it as he chewed on something gross that was supposed to be lasagna when someone called 'hey' a couple of times, so he looked up.

"Stop that or I'll make you swallow that fork, kid." One of the men down the table called, glaring at him.

"Whatever, dude." Bart murmured, rolling his eyes and going back to tapping the fork.

The man stood up, glaring at Bart as he made his way over toward him, his eyes narrowed and dark. "I said knock it off, punk."

Bart shrugged and took another bite of his food before going back to tapping it.

"All right, you little shit." He grabbed Bart by the collar of his jumpsuit and yanked him up out of his seat.

"Back off," a voice said from behind him, the tone dark and warning.

Bart stared down at the guy then glanced over his shoulder.

"Fuck off, playboy," the man answered, looking up at Bart, "I'll break your neck."

Without warning, Oliver wrapped his arm around the man's throat, efficiently bringing him to his knees. "I think I said back off, asshole," he growled, tightening his grip.

He dropped Bart to the floor and the second his feet were on the ground again, Bart stepped forward and kicked him in the stomach.

The guy doubled over, but Oliver didn't let him go. "I see you fucking with anyone again, you're going to have to be sent to a hospital. Are we clear?" he demanded.

He groaned as he hit the ground, holding his stomach.

Bart smirked when he looked down the table and the other guys looked away. He looked up at Oliver and grinned a little, "thanks, man."

Oliver nodded slightly, smiling very faintly. "No problem."

Bart nodded a little and moved to sit back down, "did you find your friend?"

His smile slipped and he looked down. "No," he said quietly.

He frowned at that and turned on his seat a little, "what do you think happened?"

Oliver's jaw tightened a little. "I think they took her. To use her for some mission of some kind." He sat down across from the younger man.

"They do that?" Bart gasped, eyes widening.

He gazed at Bart silently for a moment, nodding slightly. "How long have you been here?"

"Few days," he told him, "you?"

"A few weeks," he admitted, looking down at his tray, his body tense. Chloe had been gone for three days now and he was starting to believe he wasn't going to see her again. He'd spent most of that time awake, working out and meditating, and the times when he was out and around grilling people for information. No one had seen her. His chest tightened, his appetite gone.

"When do you think she'll get back?" Bart asked.

"I don't know," he murmured. "I'm not sure she will." He swallowed hard.

"Why not? Did she do something?" He asked, eyes widening, "do people usually disappear and never come back?"

"I don't know about usually. And no, she didn't do anything. But they may have needed her for some purpose that I don't know about." He rubbed a hand over his face and regarded Bart once more. "What are you in for?"

"Stole some stuff from some rich dude," he shrugged, still looking worried about disappearing, "you?"

Oliver cocked his head to the side. "Some rich dude?" he echoed curiously.

"Luthor," he explained, "the bald one."

His eyes widened. " _Lex_ Luthor?"

"Yeah, that one." Bart sighed, "for a hundred bucks too, totally not worth it."

"So you were just the messenger. Someone paid you to steal from him."

"Yeah..." he took another bite of his food, "I was starving so I figured, easy job, right? Run in, grab the stupid map, run out."

Oliver watched him for a moment. "What map was someone willing to pay a hundred dollars for?"

"Dunno," he said around his food, sipping on his milk, "best not to ask questions, you know? But then I got in there and I didn't even get a chance to come out."

"Lex caught you?" Oliver surmised, raising his eyebrows.

"Well _he_ wasn't there," Bart told him, taking a bite of the bread then pausing and frowning, "you know him?"

"Unfortunately," he answered.

"Did he put you in here too?" He asked, eyes widening as he sat up.

"Lex?" He shook his head a little. "No, but we went to school together." He pursed his lips, chewing the inside of his cheek for a moment.

"Oh," he frowned, shrugging a little and going back to his food.

Oliver looked down at his tray, reluctantly taking a bite of what he thought was some kind of potato dish. At least, he hoped that's what it was. He hoped wherever Chloe was, she was getting better meals than this.

Bart finished everything on his tray a moment later and sighed, "so is there anyway you can track her down? Anything I can do to help you?"

"I don't know how," he said quietly, glancing up at the kid a moment later, and then pushing the tray toward him. "You can have the rest of mine if you want."

"You not hungry?" Bart frowning, but switched trays with him instantly.

"Not really," he admitted, offering him a small smile.

He remained quiet for a moment, eating before he looked back at Bart. "Isn't it a good thing though? If she doesn't come back? Maybe she got out."

Oliver's stomach knotted and he shook his head a little. "No. Getting out of this place isn't gonna be some easy feat." He glanced around.

"But you're gonna try?" Bart asked, eyes widening again as he sat up but lowered his voice, "I want in!"

He looked back at the younger man, raising his eyebrows. "It's gonna be dangerous."

"I'm bored out of my mind, dude." He told him, "I was _hoping_ to pick a fight so someone could knock me unconscious for a while or something."

A short chuckle escaped him involuntarily. "So next time a guy three times your size is about to pound your face in, I should let him?"

"Not in the face," Bart smirked, "don't wanna break my nose and get it all weird, the ladies wouldn't appreciate that."

He smiled a bit at that, then extended his hand to the younger man. "We'll have to figure out a way to keep track of each other. This place changes around."

Bart grinned and shook his hand, nodding a little. "I noticed. It's creepy, but I guess if we look for each other during meals and stuff we should be able to find each other?"

He nodded, shaking his hand in return. "Sounds like a plan."

Nodding, he grinned a little then went back to the food, "so," he glanced around then leaned in, "what are you planning?"

"Not sure yet. Just in the preparation phase." He raised his eyebrows, his voice low. "Which involves a lot of working out to be prepared to fight when the time comes."

"Where are you working out?" He asked, frowning a little.

"In my cell," he said with a slight shrug.

"Oh..." Bart shrugged a little, "I can try, but it never really did much for me."

"Are you meta?" Oliver questioned.

"Yeah," he answered, taking another bite and finishing Oliver's food too, "I have a really fast metabolism so I can move at superspeed." Bart made a face and lifted his arm, "when I'm not wearing this stupid thing anyway."

"Whatever you do, don't try and take it off. Apparently it'll explode."

"It will?" He gasped, eyes widening as he looked down at it.

"That's the word in here," he told the younger man. "So be careful."

"Thanks, man..." Bart said, looking down at the device on his wrist with wide eyes.

Oliver gave him a short nod and rose to his feet. "See you at breakfast."

"Yeah," he nodded, "hope so, this table?" Bart asked, looking up at him but not getting up.

"Yeah, that works. Get some rest, and stay safe."

"You too..." he called, looking back down at his wrist, turning his arm as he studied the device silently.

Oliver watched him for a moment, then headed away, back toward his cell, exhaling slowly, and raking a hand through his hair. Mostly he just wanted to get some sleep, but he had a feeling that was going to be pointless.

He wasn't going to be able to get any decent rest until he knew if Chloe was all right.


	6. Chapter 6

Chloe took a deep breath and pressed her hand to her side, which was hurting from lack of oxygen as she ran down the hallway, looking from cell to cell, her eyes a little teary as she tried to find him and wasn't able to. It was late, probably two or three in the morning, most people were sleeping and the darkness made it hard for her to see inside the cells, but she had no choice but to keep going.

She had been gone for four days and she had no doubt he was worried and she had to make sure _he_ was still there, that he was still okay. With her jaw tight, she continued down the hall on the third floor, taking a deep breath as she neared the end of the corridor, looking into another cell and then stilling.

He felt more than heard her, and he quickly sat up on the bed, where he'd been laying flat on his back staring up at the ceiling. He sucked in a breath as he saw the outline of her form in the doorway. "Chloe?" His voice was barely a whisper and he rose to his feet.

"You're here," she breathed, eyes tearing up more as she stared at him.

"You're back," he whispered, quickly crossing the floor to her and wrapping his arms around her tightly.

Chloe wrapped her arms around his neck just as tightly, wincing a little but not pulling away from him even though her side hurt. She'd been so worried he'd be gone somehow when she got back, or that she would just never be able to find him again in this maze.

"Are you all right? Are you _hurt_?" he asked, pressing a hand to the back of her head gently.

She shook her head and didn't pull away from him, "I'm okay," she said quietly, "are you?"

"I'm fine," he murmured, leaning his head against hers and then kissing her temple. "Are you sure? They didn't hurt you?"

"Just a bruise," she whispered, pulling her head back and looking up at him.

Oliver lifted his hand to cup her cheek gently. "I was afraid you were gone for good," he whispered.

With a deep breath, she swallowed hard and held his gaze, "I was afraid you'd be gone by the time I got back."

"I wouldn't have left you behind." He gazed at her in the darkness.

Her chest tightened and she stared up at him, hesitating for a moment before cupping the back of his head and kissing him.

It only took his brain a moment to catch onto the fact that he was being kissed and he stepped closer, returning the kiss without hesitation, his arm sliding around her waist once more.

Chloe relaxed just a little as he started to kiss him back, tiptoeing as she pressed her body against his, her heart beating fast against her chest and if she'd been breathless before, it was nothing compared to how she was now. But she didn't care. She'd been thinking about kissing him for a long time now, since they started training and he'd get so close to her, hold her gaze and make her feel like she was the only person in the world that mattered. But even more so since the night before they took her away, all this time she couldn't stop thinking about how lonely he must have been, even out there and she didn't want him to feel that way anymore. She wanted to show him he wasn't alone.

After a long moment, the kiss ended and he shuddered involuntarily, his heart hammering in his chest as he stared at her for a moment, then dipped his head and kissed her again, this time a little more softly, his hands cupping her cheeks as he brushed his nose over hers. "I missed you," he whispered.

She took a deep breath and opened her eyes, nodding a little, "I missed you too," she murmured to him, holding his gaze for a second before kissing him once more. She didn't really want to stop. She didn't want to talk, she didn't want to _think_.

Somewhere deep down he knew they needed to talk. Talk about where she'd been, about what they'd made her do. But right then talking wasn't exactly high on his list of priorities. And given the way she was kissing him, he had a feeling it wasn't on hers, either. Without warning, he picked her up, helping her wind her legs around his waist as he shut the cell door and carried her toward the bed in the corner.

With her legs wrapped tightly around him, she slid her fingers through his hair, deepening the kiss. She had also been thinking a lot about what being this close to him would feel like. Kissing him, feeling their bodies so close together. Knowing that he was _there_ and that he was okay and that she wouldn't have to regret not finding out what this would be like if they didn't make it.

She didn't want to have any regrets if she could help it.

Oliver kissed her just as urgently, gently laying her down on the bed and sliding his body over hers, his knee between her legs. "Are you sure?" he whispered against her mouth.

"Yes," she whispered to him, looking up at him with wide, dark eyes as she took a deep breath and reached to unbutton his jumpsuit.

He dipped his head and kissed her once more even as she worked on undressing him. He pulled away long enough to shrug his arms out of it, then reached down and unzipped her jumpsuit, gazing at her intently.

Chloe took a deep breath and pulled her arms from hers too once she had pushed his down, in the back of her mind, she felt a little self-conscious about him seeing her in her underwear for the first time, but most of her didn't really care. She wanted to feel close to him, closer than they were now. She wanted to _feel_. Period. Feel something that had nothing to do with fear, anger or pain.

He slid the jumpsuit down and off her hips, pausing when he spotted a dark mark there. "Chloe?"

She blinked and looked down at herself then shook her head, shifting a little to push it down further, "just a bruise," she told him, looking up at him again as she reached for his jumpsuit once more, pushing it down his hips further.

"Are you sure?" His voice was laced with worry.

"I'm sure," she said firmly, looking up at him then lifting her head and kissing him deeply. She didn't want to talk at all. She didn't want him to worry or to ask questions. Not now.

Oliver returned the kiss instantly, then broke it to trail his mouth down her neck, kissing her throat even as his hand slid down her body, cupping one of her breasts in his hand.

Chloe gasped at his touch and lifted her hands to his bare back, closing her eyes as she focused on him and his warm hands.

"So soft," he whispered, nuzzling his face against her chest and kissing her there lightly.

She shivered, taking a deep breath and pulling her hand up to his hair once more, sliding her fingers through it as she bent her knees to his sides so their bodies were closer together.

Oliver pulled back once more, sliding her jumpsuit the rest of the way off and tugging her underwear along with it, shedding his own clothes the rest of the way just as quickly. Then he slid his body over hers again.

With a deep breath, she looked up at him, letting her breath out slowly as he settled on top of her again, lifting her hands to his back and running her fingers against his skin. She was no expert at this but she knew he had a lot of experience, so she would let him take the lead.

He gazed down at her, a soft smile touching his mouth. "Hi," he whispered, brushing his nose over hers.

Chloe held his gaze and brushed her nose against his then lifted her head and kissed him again, her chest a little tighter with the softness of his expression, his word and his actions, but she couldn't really handle it right now, let alone reciprocate.

Oliver brushed his cheek against hers when the kiss ended, sliding his hand down her body once more and brushing his fingers lightly over her center, watching her intently in the darkness.

She gasped quietly, keeping her voice as low as possible as she opened her eyes again, focusing on him as she ran her nails lightly over his side.

"Tell me what you want," he murmured, caressing her softly.

Chloe took a deep breath and lifted her hips toward his touch then wrapped her legs around him, pulling him down and closer, "just you."

He kissed her urgently even as he slid into her slowly, his body urging him on. He wanted this, wanted _her_. "Oh, Chloe," he whispered against her mouth.

She moaned against his mouth, closing her eyes tightly as she felt her body stretching around him. There was some pain, but with all the training and meditating they had been doing, she had learned to ignore it and focus on what she wanted to, which was the closeness. Feeling him inside and all around her was what mattered. She took a deep breath and kissed him deeply, tightening her arms and legs around him as she held him to her.

Oliver felt her tense beneath him just a little and he held his body in check, giving her time to adjust as he returned the kiss without hesitation, skimming his fingers gently between them and then beginning to stroke her clit very, very gently.

"Oh," she whispered, breaking away from the kiss to breathe as her back arched slightly. She opened her eyes and looked up at him, taking a deep breath as she tightened her legs around him to lift her hips against his, pulling him further inside.

He shuddered a little, dropping his head against her shoulder as he sank farther into her body. He pressed a kiss to her collarbone, then lifted himself up on his forearms, gazing down at her intently.

She took a deep breath and held his gaze, nodding a little as she lifted a hand to his cheek.

Oliver began to move within her slowly, keeping his eyes on hers, his fingers moving to stroke her lightly once more.

Chloe took a deep breath and closed her eyes again, moving with him as she locked her legs together behind his thighs. She was far too aware of people around them to know to keep quiet, but she really didn't care enough about them to stop. He felt amazing inside of her, a thousand times better than she could ever imagine.

He dipped his head once more, kissing her earlobe softly, and then her neck, trailing kisses everywhere on her bare skin that he could reach and still remain inside her. Everything within him felt like he was on fire. He wanted to move faster, harder, but he didn't want to hurt her. He wanted to take his time with her, to touch her and explore her body, but everything was happening so fast already. He chewed the inside of his cheek, his thumb pressing against her clit a little more as he circled it.

She was thinking something along the same lines that he was, but she wasn't as aware as he was so she just tightened her hold on him and started moving faster against him, her back arching as much as it could with his weight on top of her, just like when she kissed him moments ago, she wanted more. She wrapped her arm around his shoulders and lifted her head, pressing her lips to his neck to muffle the sounds she knew she wouldn't be able to hold back.

He sensed with the way she was moving beneath him, her grip on his tightening, that she wanted more, so he braced his forearm on the bed beside her head, thrusting into her a little harder, enjoying the soft, muffled sounds she was making as her face burrowed into his neck. "You feel incredible," he whispered.

Chloe moaned against his skin, encouraging him to move faster and she actually smiled softly at his words, lowering her other hand down his back to pull him to her, "you too." She breathed.

He slid his arms beneath her shoulders, sitting up with her and cradling her close to him as they continued to move together, the change in positions driving him deeper inside of her.

She gasped at the feeling as her entire body suddenly felt tenser, like she was so close, she would explode soon. She pulled her head back and kissed him breathlessly, urgently, not wanting to pull away even an inch.

He felt his own climax approaching rapidly and he slid a hand between them once more, rubbing her gently even as his other hand gripped onto her hip to help keep her steady atop him. "Let go for me," he whispered, pressing a kiss to the side of her neck.

Chloe moved faster against him, muscles clenching to him as hard as she could, her body shaking with anticipation as she moved her mouth to his shoulder, moaning against his skin and clinging to him as she reached her orgasm with just one more thrust.

He buried his face against her neck as his own release hit, making him shudder against her, his arms tightening around her. He exhaled a shaky breath, rubbing his hands gently up and down her back as he shifted so he was lying down on the bed, with her on top of him.

She untangled her legs from his back but didn't pull away otherwise, laying on top of him and linking her arms under his shoulders as she took a couple of deep breaths.

"You okay?" he murmured, smoothing her hair down.

Chloe took another deep breath and lifted her head to look up him then nodded slightly, "yeah."

Oliver slid a hand up to cup her cheek, searching her eyes. "I'm so glad you're okay," he whispered.

Pursing her lips together, she nodded slightly then pulled away so she was laying on the bed instead of on him, next to the wall, "I'm glad you're okay too."

He was a little surprised at how quickly she pulled away from him, but he turned onto his side so he was facing her. "What happened out there?"

She stilled at that and shook her head, pulling on the blanket to cover herself, "not now. We should rest." She said blankly, the last thing she wanted to do was talk about it.

Worry in his eyes, he reluctantly let it go, reaching down to pull the second blanket up and over both of them. "Okay," he murmured. "Get some sleep." He kissed her forehead.

Chloe took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment then nodded a little, "you too," she said quietly, glancing up at him before turning to face the wall, her back to him.

He stared at her for a moment, feeling unsettled. Something had happened to her while they had her out there.

And whatever it was, wasn't good at all.


	7. Chapter 7

  
  


He awoke with a start a few hours later, tensing immediately when he realized he was in the bed alone once more. He quickly sat up and turned around, freezing when he spotted her sitting on the floor in the middle of the cell, her eyes closed as she meditated. He paused for a moment. Meditation was something they'd worked on even harder than the physical training because when it came down to it, it was more difficult. Her posture was tense as she sat there. He watched her in silence, a worried expression on his face.

Chloe was pulled out of it when she felt movement in the room, he had no doubt woken up, but she took a deep breath and kept her eyes closed. She had slept for a couple of hours, she guessed, out of exhaustion, but then she woke up, feeling tense and restless so she knew she wouldn't be able to get back to it. She dressed quickly and made her way to the floor. She had no idea how long she'd been there already, but she was feeling slightly more relaxed.

After a few moments, he climbed off the bed, dressing silently and moving to sit a few feet away from her, assuming the same lotus-like position she was sitting in and shutting his eyes, as well. He drew in a breath and let it out slowly.

When she felt him moving closer, she opened her eyes and glanced over at him, pausing when she saw him in the same position as hers and relaxing slightly.

As if sensing that she'd relaxed a little, he did, too, though he kept his back as straight as he could, trying to focus on breathing.

Chloe focused too and went back to it, grateful for some more time before she had to answer his questions and hopefully, this would help her feel calmer before she did. She had no idea how much time had passed when she finally opened her eyes again, feeling a lot more relaxed than she had before as she slowly stretched her arms and legs in front of herself.

By the time she opened her eyes, Oliver had shifted into a yoga position, and was standing on his hands, his eyes on the ground. "You okay?" he asked without looking over at her.

Pausing, she turned to look at him, cocking her head as she saw him upside down and taking a deep breath as she moved to stand up. "Yeah. You?"

"Yeah, I'm all right." He raised his eyebrows a little.

She took a deep breath and rubbed her hands over her face as she moved to sit down back on the bed, feeling tired now that she managed to relax.

He flipped onto his feet once more a moment later, exhaling and looking at her. "You can go back to sleep if you want." 

"I'll wait until after they feed us," she told him, looking up at him.

He nodded a little, holding her gaze and then hesitating. "Chloe, about last night..."

She blinked and arched her eyebrows, "it's not a big deal, Oliver. You don't have to apologize." She said quickly, before he could.

Oliver frowned a little. "It is a big deal. And I'm usually a lot better than that, but..." He moved to sit down beside her. "I was just so relieved that you were back that..." He shook his head. "I didn't really take the time I normally would have."

"I initiated it, Oliver," she pointed out, glancing at him, her stomach tight. Of course he regretted it. She hadn't even considered that he might but he should have. She stood up and shook her head, "like I said, it's not a big deal and you don't have to worry about it."

His frown deepened and he shook his head again, too, rising to his feet. "That's not what I meant. I don't regret last night, Chloe." He paused. "Do _you_?"

Pausing, she looked at him again, surprised. He _didn't_ regret it? "No," she answered before she could stop herself, "but I don't want to complicate things either."

"Define complicate things." He raised his eyebrows.

"We have no choice but to be around each other while we're in here," she told him, crossing her arms over her chest, "I don't want things to be awkward or uncomfortable."

"I don't see why they have to be," he said with a slight shrug.

Chloe considered him for a moment then shrugged, "good."

He offered her a smile. "So whether it was a one time thing or not is up to you."

She paused at that and frowned a little, "what do you want?"

He raised his eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

"You can't just tell me it's up to me and not tell me what you want to do about it," she pointed out, feeling more than a little awkward.

Oliver paused, watching her closely. "Well, if you're asking if I'd mind a repeat performance, the answer's a definite no. I wouldn't mind at all." He took a step toward her. "But if you're not comfortable with that, I'll respect that. Chloe, I don't think it's a big secret that I like you, that I care about you. And I know we both know that our priorities lie elsewhere at this point. But please don't shut me out."

She stared up at him for a long moment, half wondering how he could read her so easily and half trying to find an answer. "I'm not." She lied, "but as long as we both agree that we have other priorities, then I don't see a problem with it." She let out her breath and reluctantly dropped her arms to her sides, "I just don't want to risk getting caught and have them separate us somehow."

He gazed at her intently, nodding slightly. "All right."

Chloe held his gaze back for a moment then nodded, "we'll just have to be careful and quiet," she shrugged, wishing there was something else in the room, anything else that she could focus on so she wouldn't have to look at him.

He pursed his lips, nodding again. "Should we try and train until breakfast?" he suggested.

She paused and looked up at him, nodding too and arching her eyebrows, "yeah," at least, keeping busy would give her more time before she had to answer his questions and she knew he had to tell him because it was a lot of information that could be useful for them, but she didn't want to think about it.

"Whatever it is that happened while you were out there," he murmured, raising a hand to rest on her shoulder briefly. "You're not alone."

Sighing softly, she looked up at him for a moment then down and sighed softly. "I know." She shifted, just as she let her guard down he'd asked, it figured. "And I know I have to tell you, there's a lot you _need_ to know if we stand a chance," she murmured, looking up at him again.

"We can talk about it later," he said quietly.

Chloe nodded for second then stopped and shook her head, "no... I should tell you. I don't want to risk it happening to you and you going into it in the dark."

He felt his stomach tighten at the expression on her face. "What happened?"

"Nothing to me," she assured him, taking a deep breath, "they wanted me to hack a system, to track down some people through their medical files."

"For what purpose?" he asked quietly, leading her back over to the bed.

She sat down on it tiredly, keeping her voice low, "they didn't tell me, but I think they want to bring them in."

"Bring in more metas?" he guessed, his own voice low.

"With specific abilities, people that they _want_ for their own purposes." She whispered, holding his gaze.

He really didn't like the sound of _that_. "What kind of abilities are we talking about?"

"One of them could walk through things from what I read," she pursed her lips together, "another one could manipulate fire and a third that was a shapeshifter."

Oliver paused, considering that. "I'd really love to know what their endgame here is."

"That's not all I heard," she told him, taking a deep breath, "there is a... group, I don't know what it is exactly, but they called it the Suicide Squad," she whispered, "some of the inmates were being forced to go on a mission tho find those people and bring them." Her jaw clenched a little, "dead or alive."

He stared at her, his eyes widening a little. "And it's called the Suicide Squad because if they happen to get killed in the process, it doesn't even matter."

She bit down on her bottom lip and nodded slightly, "that was my guess too."

Oliver rubbed a hand over his face. "Well, that doesn't really bode well."

"There's more," she whispered to him, trying her best to mask the fear in her eyes, but she had the feeling she wasn't really able to.

He looked up at her once more, reading the fear on her face like it was the front page headline. "What is it?"

"They were experimenting on some of them," she murmured, pursing her lips together, "I just walked past the labs but I recognized some of the people in there."

He held his breath at that. "People from here?"

"Yes," she told him quietly, holding her hands together on her lap, "they were tied up and they seemed to be awake, but they didn't look aware. They were all strapped to examination tables or in glass cells... like caged animals." Her voice wavered a little as she looked down, jaw clenched.

"Jesus," he muttered, rising to his feet and raking a hand through his hair as he began to pace the length of the small cell.

Chloe took a deep breath and remained quiet for a moment, "we need to get out of here." She whispered, lifting her head to look up at him.

He turned to look at her once more, nodding slightly. "We need to start working on a plan."

"We need to get rid of these somehow," she said quietly, lifting her arm.

Easier said than done, he thought, exhaling slowly. "We need to find more help inside. And there's someone you need to meet."

"Who?" She asked, frowning a little as she looked up at him, only now realizing that she might have missed things that happened in there with him too while she was gone.

"His name's Bart. He's a little younger than you, maybe eighteen or so. A good kid. I think we could use him on our side."

"What can he do?" She asked, cocking her head a little.

"He's super-fast when he's not wearing one of these." He lifted his arm a little.

"Fast?" She echoed, arching her eyebrows as she stood up, "so he could probably find the way out before any of us got caught?"

Oliver nodded. "If we can find a way to get these off without exploding in the process."

She let out a breath and nodded, frowning and pacing as she tried to think, "there has to be some kind of code or key to deactivate it."

"The trouble will be getting access to wherever it needs to be deactivated from." He watched her as she paced.

Chloe nodded her agreement and remained quiet for a long time then stilled and turned to look at him again, "maybe one of us getting sent on one of those missions isn't such a bad thing after all." She whispered to him, eyes narrowing.

"More chance of being able to see what kind of equipment they're using," he murmured, meeting her eyes.

"They had to leave the building to track those people down," she told him, holding his gaze, "if it's true about this going off if you try and leave the building, they'll have to take them off somehow."

"Or at least _shut_ them off." He chewed the inside of his cheek. "And if we can shut them off we'd have a chance to remove them."

She nodded, arching her eyebrows, "maybe it's time to pick some more fights, get their attention."

"You sure about that?" he asked, shifting closer to her without thinking about it.

"Yeah," Chloe said firmly, holding his gaze, "besides, I need to practice on someone other than you anyway."

A smile tugged at his mouth involuntarily. "All right. Sounds like we've got a plan."

"Or the beginning of one anyway," she told him.

He nodded slightly, moving closer and wrapping his arms around her in a hug.

She placed her hands on his arms, her chest beating fast instantly because of his closeness and stared up at him.

He held his breath as he caught the look in her eyes, his own dilating, growing darker as he stared back at her.

Chloe took a deep breath and looked down then back at him, "I'm sorry about last night and this morning," she told him, hoping he'd understand she was talking about her attitude and not sleeping with him, "seeing those people being experimented on really freaked me out." As hard as it was for her to apologize, she knew she needed him to stick around and not hate her.

"I probably would have been freaked out, too," he said softly. "But we'll get out of here, and we'll put an end to all of this." His voice was filled with determination.

Her jaw tightened slightly and she nodded, her back straightening as she felt a little more determined too, and less scared, "we will." She had to believe that.


	8. Chapter 8

  


A couple of hours later, they were led down to the cafeteria for breakfast and as they walked, Chloe's eyes narrowed slightly as she realized something. She kept her mouth shut until they carried their trays to a table.

Her eyes narrowed instantly and she looked at him, turning sideways to face him and looking up at him, "the place changes, but the floors don't," she whispered, looking up at him.

He looked down at the floor for a moment, then back up at her, raising his eyebrows. "Good observation skills, Professor."

Chloe smiled slightly at him and nodded a little, "there has to be some kind of a system and there are probably only so many ways that they can change it."

Oliver paused. "What if they're not really changing it at all?"

Her eyes narrowed a little at that and she cocked her head, "what do you mean?"

"What if they're just making us believe they are?" he murmured, stepping closer to her. "Some kind of mind game?"

"How could they do that?" Chloe asked, cocking her head.

"I don't know. Making someone with a mind control ability screw with us?"

"Hm." She said, considering for a moment, "I guess it's po--"

"Oliver!" Someone called, waving at them from a table.

He turned toward the sound of Bart's voice, and lifted his free hand in a slight wave. "Come on," he said quietly.

Chloe followed him then paused as they approached the table, eyes widening a little, " _Bart_?"

Oliver raised his eyebrows at the recognition in Chloe's tone. "You know each other?"

"Chloe?" Bart asked, standing up, his eyes widening too.

"Kind of..." she told Oliver, glancing at him then pausing, " _this_ is the Bart you mentioned?"

He nodded a little, looking between them and wondering how they knew each other. "Why don't we...all sit down?"

"Yeah," Bart agreed, sitting back down, staring at Chloe.

Chloe smiled slightly at the younger boy and sat down in front of him, setting her tray on the table.

Oliver slid onto the seat beside Chloe and looked over at Bart. "Guess I don't need to make any introductions."

"No..." she told him, "we met a while back."

"Is _this_ the girl you were looking for?" Bart asked, looking at Chloe then back at Oliver.

He nodded slightly, glancing sideways at Chloe, then at Bart. "Yeah."

She glanced at Oliver at that, pursing her lips together for a moment then quickly changing the subject, "Oliver mentioned you can run really fast," she said, arching her eyebrows, "I didn't know you had powers."

Oliver picked up his glass of water and took a sip.

"You either, Gorgeous. Does Stretch know you're here?" His eyebrows furrowed.

Chloe pursed her lips together and shook her head slightly, "I don't know," she admitted, looking down then back at him, "I'm not sure what they heard."

"We could use his help right about now," he mumbled, picking up his fork and taking a bite of food.

"I know," she agreed, glancing at Oliver, not entirely surprised that Bart knew about Clark, "but if this place got a hold of someone like him... I don't even want to think about what they would do to him."

Oliver raised an eyebrow, but didn't question who or what they were talking about. He ate a few bites of his food and set his fork down. "We need to work on our game plan."

She took a deep breath and nodded, sitting up a little. "Have you met anyone else trustworthy in here?"

Bart cocked his head to the side, thinking about it. "Well, there is this one guy. His name's Victor."

She glanced at Oliver then back at Bart, "okay, we'll need more people to make this work," she told him quietly, taking another bite of her food.

"How many are we talking?" he asked curiously.

"I don't know," she admitted, "but we need a team looking into the bracelets and another trying to find the way out."

"My guy can figure out the bracelets," he said confidently, raising his eyebrows.

Chloe's eyes widened at that and she sat up, "he _can_?" That made things a lot easier.

He grinned, nodding. "Oh yeah. He's a whiz with that kind of stuff."

"Even while he's wearing it he can still get around it?" Chloe asked.

"It's not exactly a super-power," he said, shrugging.

"Oh..." she glanced at Oliver once more then back at Bart, "well, as long as he can work around it, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to." She knew just how much people liked their secrets and if it got them out of there, she really didn't need to know details.

Bart nodded a little, taking another bite of food, and raising his eyebrows. "How'd you end up here?"

Chloe took a deep breath at that, "I have an ability too," she said quietly, "I can heal people. So they framed me for hacking a few institutes' databases," which she had done, but it wasn't anything serious enough for her to be sent to a maximum security prison for.

He frowned at that, his eyebrows furrowing as he glanced over at Oliver.

Oliver looked between them. "Meaning they want her for some specific purpose," he told Bart.

"My theory is that they are collecting people with specific abilities so they can use us to do what they want us to," she whispered.

"We're just not entirely sure what that is at the moment." Oliver gave Chloe's arm a light squeeze.

Chloe glanced at him then nodded slightly and turned to Bart. "But we're working on finding out."

"I can work on finding a way out of here then," he told them, looking worried now.

Oliver nodded and drew in a breath. "And we'll work on drawing some attention to ourselves."

Chloe pursed her lips together, "it will probably be safer for you and your friend not to be seen with us often, but let us know how things are going."

Bart frowned more but nodded slightly, "alright," he told them, "good luck," he said quietly before getting up and picking up his tray.

He glanced sideways at Chloe after Bart headed away. "That was weird."

"What was?" She asked, frowning a little as she picked up her fork and went back to her food, they had to eat before getting themselves in trouble.

"You and Bart already knowing each other. It's a weird coincidence."

"Oh," she shrugged a little, "I guess? I mean, I know quite a few people with abilities from Smallville, most of them were infected by the meteor rocks like me, but not all of them." She paused and cocked her head a little, "did he tell you how he ended up here?"

"Lex Luthor caught him stealing some map from his mansion," he told her, watching her intently.

"Lex." She stilled, eyes widening, "he was also connected to Summerholt and Belle Reve, the two institutes I was accused of hacking into."

Oliver stared at her for a moment. "So you think Lex is involved in this?"

"It's a possibility..." she said quietly, "he doesn't like you either, right?" Chloe said quietly, holding his gaze. She remembered Oliver mentioning knowing Lex in high school and things weren't exactly friendly between them.

"That would be a serious understatement." He gazed at her intently, raising his eyebrows.

Chloe chewed on her bottom lip for a moment, "then I guess it's not such a long shot that he would have set us up, I'm not exactly his favorite person either."

"Well, that adds a whole new layer of possibility to this little conspiracy, doesn't it?" he murmured.

"Yes," she said quietly, "and something tells me that if he _is_ behind this, it will be a lot harder to expose him than we initially assumed."

"Especially considering he knows my real identity now." He chewed the inside of his cheek.

"Well at least he can't expose you anymore," she pointed out, sitting up, "you having nothing to hide might work to your advantage."

He cocked his head to the side, considering that and nodding a little. "You have a point."

"But we have a lot to worry about _before_ we get to that," she told him, shifting on her seat.

"Yeah, we need to focus on getting out first. And then on how we take down Lex and everyone helping him." His voice was quiet.

Chloe held his gaze and nodded, "sounds like a plan."

He nodded as well. "Let's get started on our part."

She took a deep breath and sipped on her juice then nodded a little, "go ahead, I'll follow your lead."

Oliver winked at her, then rose to his feet and headed over to the inmate who'd been picking on Bart a few days before. He tapped on his shoulder, raising his eyebrows as he waited for the man to turn around.

The man looked up and frowned instantly, "what do you want, _Queen_?"

He smirked down at him and without warning, he drew back his fist and punched him in the face.

"What the hell?" Two of the other men stood up, one of them shoving Oliver away.

"What? You douchebags are the only ones who can pick a fight for no reason around here?" he demanded, raising his eyebrows again.

"What do you want, Queen?" The other demanded as the leader stood up.

"He wants to fight, lets give him a fight, boys." He answered.

"Give it your best shot, Dickwad." Oliver spread his arms wide open, smirking.

He wasted no time in lifting a hand and punching Oliver in the stomach.

Chloe approached just as one of the other two started toward Oliver, she turned sideways and kicked his mid-back hard. "Hardly a fair fight if you join." She called.

Oliver tackled the leader to the ground a second later, throwing a glance over his shoulder to make sure Chloe was okay.

She barely had time to smirk at him when the third man came up behind her, wrapping an arm around her neck and holding one of her hands in place. As quickly as he grabbed her, though she elbowed him hard in the stomach, turned around and kneed him on the crotch. 

"Bitch!" he uttered as he hit the ground hard.

Chloe stood up straight and grinned a little, not wanting to hurt the guy anymore since he hadn't technically done anything, but it felt good to be able to take him down.

The leader shifted under Oliver and turned them around so he was on top of him instead.

At which point he promptly wrapped his hands around Oliver's throat in a tight grip.

She stilled when she saw what was happening and immediately made her way over to Oliver, kicking the guy hard on the ribs, "let go."

The man reached out with one hand and grabbed her foot, yanking hard on her leg, and Oliver took the opportunity to punch him in the nose, blood spurting out immediately.

Chloe fell flat on the floor, hitting her back and her head hard, she barely had time to see what was going on when the third man threw himself on top of her.

The leader groaned in pain and rolled sideways but threw blind punches toward Oliver's face despite all the blood.

He rolled out from beneath the man and kicked him in the groin before rising to his feet and moving to where the third man was attacking Chloe. He grabbed him up by the back of his jumpsuit and threw him into the lunch table, glaring at him. Then he quickly knelt down beside her. "You all right?" His eyes were worried.

"Yeah," she winced, sitting up and rubbing the back of her head, not surprised that no guards had come to try and break the fight. "Are you?"

He nodded a little, helping her to her feet and turning to regard the three men, who were all on the ground, in various levels of pain. "Well, it's been fun, but I think we're done for now."

Chloe looked at the three of them once she was standing and looked up at Oliver, "could've been worse," she said quietly.

"Yeah, it could've been," he agreed, nodding and sliding his arm around her waist without thinking about, guiding her out of the cafeteria.

It could have been a lot worse.


	9. Chapter 9

  
  


Chloe took a deep breath and paced the floor. They had started three more fights during meals they had and nothing had happened so a couple of nights later, they found Bart and asked him to find his friend and bring him up to their cell so they could plan they escape. The thought of actually trying to make it out of that place made her incredibly nervous, but she knew they had no choice but to try.

She just hoped they made it out of there alive. All of them.

"Do you think they'll find it?" She asked Oliver, taking a deep breath and turning to face him.

"Yes," he said quietly, reaching out and resting his hands on her shoulders to stop her from pacing again. "Just have a little faith, Gorgeous."

She took a deep breath and looked up at him, "I've never exactly broke out of a prison before."

He couldn't help the small grin that touched his mouth. "Good to know for future reference." He winked at her.

Chloe managed a tiny smirk and shrugged, "I did say _prison_ right?"

He chuckled softly. "You did."

"Good," she said quietly, holding his gaze. Since they had decided to try and break out as soon as possible, in the back of her head, she'd been wondering what it would be like between them once they were out but she tried to ignore it. Relationship statuses were far from being in her priority list at the moment.

Oliver searched her eyes, holding his breath for a moment. They hadn't been _together_ since the night they'd brought her back to Supermax. They'd been too focused on formulating their plans on how to get out for good. But he had every confidence they'd be out of there very soon, and he couldn't help but wonder what things would be like once they were out. Would she go back to her life and he to his? Would they stay in touch? He honestly had no idea what to expect.

"Finally!" Bart said as he stepped into the cell, Victor right behind him.

Chloe blinked and looked away from Oliver, stepping to the side, "good, you found us." She breathed.

Oliver turned to look at them, raising his eyebrows a little. "You must be Victor." He extended his hand toward the other man.

Victor nodded and shook Oliver's hand but remained quiet.

"How are we doing this?" Bart asked.

"Well..." Chloe glanced at Oliver and lowered her voice, "I'm guessing some kind of alarm will go off as soon as these are deactivated, so we'll have to be fast."

"Once they're deactivated, that won't be a problem, Beautiful." Bart flashed her a grin. "I'll have us all outta here lickety-split."

Oliver nodded slightly. "I have a safe place you can take us to until we can formulate the rest of the plan about shutting this place down for good."  
Chloe took a deep breath and turned to Victor, "so how does this work?"

He looked at her for a moment, then at Bart, "I guess I should start with yours since you're our way out," he told him, holding out his hand for Bart's bracelet. 

Oliver raised his eyebrows a little, then glanced at Chloe curiously before looking back at Victor. "How exactly do you plan to--" 

Before he had a chance to finish, Victor's eyes turned red as a small wire came out from his chest and attached itself to Bart's bracelet. Within seconds the bracelet was off.

Chloe's eyes widened as a tiny noise came out of device before a red light blinked on it once and it was dead, "bring it out with you," she told Bart, "we can use it as evidence."

Bart nodded and grinned then paused and sped around the cell, " _awesome_ , who is going first?"

Oliver's eyes widened just a little at how fast the kid moved. "Chloe," he said without hesitation, looking at Victor.

She held her breath, looking from Oliver to Victor as he stepped closer to her then back again, "just take us outside the perimeter, we'll figure out where to go from there."

"Got it." Bart told her.

He nodded at Bart. "Go," he instructed, blinking as Chloe and Bart vanished from sight. He glanced at Victor and held up his hand, watching as the bracelet was deactivated in seconds. "Now you." 

Victor nodded and undid his own bracelet, a second later, a deafening alarm started to sound all around them and Bart showed back up.

"We gotta hurry!" He told them, "who's next?"

"Him," Oliver said, nodding at Victor. "Go! Hurry." His heart began to pound in his chest.

Bart and Victor disappeared and just a second later, a couple of guards made their into the cell, guns aimed at Oliver, "stop right there!"

He held his hands up, eying the guards warily. They weren't close enough that he could disarm them yet, and he had no doubt if _he_ moved, they wouldn't hesitate to shoot him. "What's the problem? I was just going to bed."

One of them eyed him suspiciously and started to lower his gun.

A second one nudged him, "his device, it's gone!"

He moved quickly, kicking the gun out of the second guard's hand. It clattered noisily to the floor and he punched the man in the face.

The first guard lifted his gun once more and fired without hesitation.

Bart didn't even stop when he realized what was going on, knocking the guard out of the way, he picked Oliver up and ran.

When Bart set Oliver on his feet, he stumbled, pain shooting through his stomach. "Dizzy," he mumbled, shutting his eyes for a moment.

Chloe blinked when they materialized in front of her, "Oliver?" She frowned, stepping forward. It was apparently the middle of the day and since the prison was located in Nevada, in the middle of the desert, it was extremely hot, but something wasn't right.

"The guards were there," Bart told her, a hand on Oliver's shoulder to try and steady him.

Their voices were distant as the world spun beneath him and he fell backwards onto the ground, pressing a hand to his stomach. He realized immediately that his hand was now wet. Covered in something hot and sticky. _Blood_ , he thought idly. 

"Oh."

She saw it when he raised his hand to the wound. She knelt down next to him instantly and cupped his head in one of her hands. With a deep breath, she looked up at Bart, "I'll be knocked out, just... let me sleep it off." She warned him before pursing her lips together and looking down at Oliver again, her heart racing as she lifted her other hand over his and over the wound, "you'll be okay." 

"Don't," he whispered weakly. "Hurts...you."

"Shh," she said quietly, looking down at him as her hand started feeling warmer and warmer. His face was pale, she knew he wouldn't last much longer if she didn't heal him, but she could feel it starting to work already so she focused on that.

Within seconds a bright light surrounded them. So bright that he had to shut his eyes. The pain began to vanish slowly until it was gone completely and then she was slumping over him, her head resting against his chest.

He sat up quickly as the light dissipated, and he wrapped his arms around her. "Chloe?" he whispered. She was limp in his embrace. He looked up at Bart, his chest tight. "Are you fast enough to run over water?"

Bart nodded, his eyes wide as he looked between the two of them "tell me where to go."

Oliver quickly gave the younger man an address to a villa he owned in Italy. "Take her there." He shifted Chloe into Bart's arms, holding his breath.

As soon as Bart and Chloe vanished once again, Victor looked at Oliver, "are you okay?" He asked, not entirely sure who those people were or what was going on.

He swallowed hard, looking down at the blood covering his hands. His blood. He wondered why it felt like it was _hers_. "I'm all right," he said quietly. "Thanks for the help." 

Victor nodded a little, "she said it would knock her out," he told him, "I'm sure she'll be fine."

He hoped so. He looked over when Bart arrived once more, astonished by how quickly he moved. "They'll start looking soon. We need to move." He nodded toward Victor. "Take him."

Bart nodded and vanished with Vic and not even stopping once he had dropped him off before returning and picking Oliver up. They were all in Italy within a few moments, which was far enough from the facility for Bart. "This place is awesome, man." He told him as he set Oliver on the floor.

"Thanks. Where is she?" He looked around but didn't see Chloe in the room.

"In one of the rooms upstairs, the first one." Bart told him.

Nodding, Oliver headed up the steps. "Help yourselves to anything you find in the kitchen." He made his way down the hall and into the first bedroom--the master bedroom. He held his breath as his gaze fell upon her prone figure on the bed, still and silent. Her face was drained of color and he swallowed hard, slowly moving to sit down on the edge of the bed. He gazed down at her. "You better be okay," he whispered.

* * *

It was a few hours later when Chloe woke up from a dreamless sleep. She sat up on the bed instantly, her eyes wide as she looked around.

Oliver lifted his head from where it had been resting against the wall behind him. "Chloe?" his eyes widened.

Chloe blinked and turned her head, looking over at him for a moment, eyes still wide, her mouth dry, "where are we?"

"My villa in Italy," he told her, moving to sit down on the edge of the bed once more, his eyes worried. "How are you feeling?"

"Thirsty," she admitted, shifting on the bed too, "so everyone made it out? We're all okay?"

"Everyone's fine," he murmured, reaching out and touching her cheek. "I'll go get you some water."

"I'm fine," she told him, holding his gaze, "I just had to sleep it off. Recharge."

He nodded slightly, then leaned in and kissed her forehead.

She held her breath and closed her eyes for a moment, relieved that they were all out even though they still had a lot of work to do, but the second he moved closer, she was back to wondering what was going to happen now.

"Thank you," he whispered.

Chloe pursed her lips together and she shook her head slightly, "I wouldn't just let you die."

"You're a good person," he told her, pulling away to look at her once more.

She took a deep breath and held his gaze, "so are you."

Oliver swallowed hard. "I'm gonna get you that water," he said quietly, reluctantly rising to his feet.

"I'm fine, you can just show me where it is," she told him, standing up too when he pulled away, her chest tightening.

"Maybe you should stay resting for awhile," he said, frowning.

"That's what I was just doing," she told him, "I wouldn't have woken up if I wasn't rested enough," she pointed out, stretching as she stood up and looking down at her jumpsuit. She couldn't wait to shower and get rid of it, but if they were in Italy, that would probably have to wait.

He chewed the inside of his cheek, gazing at her. "I had Bart run out for clothes and food," he told her, glancing toward the large closet to the left. "The master bathroom is right through there." He nodded toward the door.

"Oh," she paused, only then noticing that he had changed, "I might... just shower and change, then. I wanna get out of this."

"Yeah, of course." He moved closer to her, resting his hand at the small of her back and guiding her over to the bathroom. "I'll have something ready for you to eat and drink when you're done."

"Thank you," she said quietly, turning to look up at him once more, not sure what to make of his touches and closeness, "we'll start working on the article as soon as I'm done, do you think you can have Bart grab a laptop?"

He raised his eyebrows a little. "I can, but we should talk about a couple other things, too."

"About what?" She asked, keeping her voice as neutral as possible.

Oliver blinked at the distance in her tone. "About what we're going to do now. And about a more direct way of taking Supermax down."

"Oh," she nodded and glanced at the bathroom then back at him, "yeah, we should talk about that with the others too."

"And then you and I can talk later." His voice grew quiet.

Chloe held her breath and looked up at him for a moment, "I don't want you to feel like you owe me anything."

"Like I said, we can talk later." He raised his eyebrows at her, and then headed out of the room without giving her a chance to respond.

She let out her breath in a deep sigh and shook her head a little before walking into the bathroom and locking herself in there. If they were going to talk about it _later_ whether she wanted to or not, she had to focus on the more important things for now.


	10. Chapter 10

  


Oliver watched as Bart and Victor both headed down the hall toward the rooms they were staying in while they were in Italy. It had taken a few hours, but among the four of them, they'd come up with a plan to deal with Supermax, expose the Suicide Squad, and to start taking care of Lex Luthor. Once she'd started digging, it hadn't even taken Chloe long to connect Lex to both the prison _and_ the Squad, as well as the warden, Amanda Waller.

But now that all of _that_ was taken care of and planned out, it was time to concentrate on other matters. He looked across the small table at Chloe, raising his eyebrows a little. "Why don't we go for a walk?" he suggested. The weather was beautiful out and it had been weeks since they'd been outside.

Chloe took a deep breath and sat up a little a little on the chair she'd been sitting on. She was wired and with the plan already set and the article pretty much done, the first one anyway, she knew there wasn't much more they could do. She had no idea what time it was but the sun was still out and she had been thinking of exploring the surrounding areas of the villa, which seemed to be pretty isolated, but apparently, she was going to have company to do that.

"Yeah," she agreed finally, looking up at him. Might as well get it over with.

Nodding, he rose to his feet, and held his hand out to help her up, offering her a small smile.

Chloe hesitated before taking his hand, looking up at him as she stood up before looking away.

Oliver wrapped his fingers around hers, giving her hand a squeeze before leading her toward the front door. "Have you ever been to Italy?" he asked as he opened the door for her.

She glanced down at their hands and shook her head slightly, "never been out of the country before," she admitted.

A smile touched his mouth. "I think you might like it here," he told her, following her out the door and shutting it behind them.

"It's beautiful from what I've seen," which hadn't been much, just what she could see out the windows of the house, "but hopefully we can go back soon."

"Right now we're wanted fugitives," he said quietly.

Chloe nodded a little, "I'm surprised there isn't anything on the news about it yet," she'd looked everywhere, hoping to find it so at least her dad, Lois and Clark would know she was alive.

"I'm not." He glanced at her sideways. "They know that we know what they're doing. They're going to want to cover it up, not expose it."

"Yeah, I guess the last thing they want is to attract attention to themselves right now, but it won't matter because everyone knows what happened to you," she told him, glancing up at him. She couldn't help the pride that she felt in him every time she remembered that _he_ was the Green Arrow.

"Which makes me a liability to them," he said quietly.

She paused at that, "which means you can't be seen by _anyone_ until this is over," she told him, stopping and tugging on his hand, "maybe this isn't a good idea."

He turned to face her once more, his chest feeling warm from the concern in her voice and her eyes. "We can just stay in back. It's fenced in."

Chloe took a deep breath and nodded a little, "and you're sure no one will be coming in here?"

"I'm positive," he assured her, squeezing her hand.

She nodded a little and looked up at him then turned to look toward the back of the house, "we should stay away from the fence then."

"We will." But there wasn't another house in sight for miles. He led her around to the back and motioned to the lawn chairs by the in-ground pool.

When she saw the pool and the view that came from it, she held her breath again, they were high up apparently, on top of a hill and she could see the ocean a few miles away, "this place is beautiful," she said quietly. She knew she would have appreciated it regardless but after being locked up for however long, it was almost overwhelming.

"Yes, it is," he said softly, gazing at her.

Chloe could feel his eyes on her so she took a deep breath and glanced at him. "Do you come here often?"

"No," he admitted, shaking his head a little and motioning to a couple of the chairs.

She nodded a little and reluctantly let go of his hand before taking a seat on one of the chairs.

He sat down in a chair across from her, pulling it a little closer and taking a deep breath. "We should talk about that night."

Chloe sat up a little, unfortunately he was sitting directly in front of her so she had no choice but to look at him. "Okay," she said, trying to sound calm even though her stomach was in knots.

He offered her a gentle smile. "Chloe, I like you. A lot." His voice was quiet.

She held her breath and shifted a little on her chair, "things will be different when we're back to our normal lives," she said quietly, glancing down at the table.

"You think I won't like you anymore because we're out of prison?" He raised his eyebrows.

"Because we won't be stuck with each other like we were in there," because he would have options, much better options.

He gazed at her for a moment, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees. "Chloe, look." He looked down at the floor. "I've made a lot of mistakes in my life, and I'll be the first one to admit it." He looked up at her once more. "Maybe that's what worries you. I don't know. But I like you. And my life hasn't been _normal_ for a long time. It's never going to be normal. Not really."

Her stomach turned a little and she shook her head, "neither is mine, obviously," she told him quietly. "But you're still Oliver Queen and now that everyone knows you're a superhero on top of it," she shrugged a little, "I'm sure you will have plenty of people interested in helping you."

"Maybe I don't want just anyone helping me," he stated, raising his eyebrows.

"You know what I mean," she told him, looking down again.

"Actually, I don't," he told her, shaking his head a little. "But I feel like we're talking in code. I've told you how I feel about you. How do _you_ feel about _me_?"

Chloe sighed softly and shook her head a little, "I like you," she told him, "but it doesn't matter."

"Why doesn't it matter?" That's what wasn't making any sense to him.

"Because eventually you'll find someone better." She said finally.

Oliver blinked. "I...what?" His eyebrows furrowed. "What are you talking about, Chloe?"

"You're a superhero and a billionaire and when this is over, you can go back to your normal life, you can go out with whoever you want, you won't be stuck in a cell and I won't be your only option anymore, so why would you be interested in me?" She asked, her stomach tight and she was doing her best to keep her expression blank.

He stared at her for a long moment, dumbfounded. "Why would I be interested in you?" he echoed.

"Exactly." She told him, staring at him.

"Maybe because I think you're an amazing woman. Because you're smart, and you're passionate, and you're a fighter. You're also beautiful, and sexy. And when you disappeared a few days ago, I was terrified that I'd lost you forever," he said earnestly, gazing into her eyes. "Because I _want_ you in my life. More than that, I _need_ you in it. _That's_ why." He shook his head. "Now I don't know what's going on in your mind. I don't know if some small town guy broke your heart and now you have this low opinion of yourself, but I will tell you it's _his_ loss, whoever he is."

Chloe stared at him for a moment, her eyes tearing up as he spoke and when the tears finally ran down her face she looked down and shook her head a little, it was hard to believe him considering it all sounded too good to be true and it terrified her that she _wanted_ to believe him. She didn't know what to say or do. She knew he had been worried while she was gone, but what if he changed his mind in a couple of months?

Oliver shifted closer to her, their knees touching. He lifted his hand to her cheek, searching her eyes. "Give me a chance at least," he whispered.

She held her breath and looked up at him, her chest tight and she was more afraid now than she'd been before they were about to break out of the Supermax. Swallowing hard, she took a deep breath and looked at him for a moment then nodded a little. She couldn't _not_ at his point, not when he seemed so determined.

"Yeah?" he whispered, raising his eyebrows.

Letting out her breath, she nodded again, "I guess it's too late to say no," she admitted.

"Do you want to say no?" he asked quietly, stroking her cheek very lightly with his thumb.

"No," she whispered, leaning into his touch. She did care a lot about him and she knew she'd never forgive herself if she never knew for sure if he was lying about everything he just told her or not. She needed to know. Even if it ended up hurting even more in the end.

"Oh, good," he murmured, leaning in and capturing her lips in a kiss.

Chloe's eyes widened a little and she kissed him back, her heart racing at the feel of his lips on hers again for the first time since that night. For days she assumed she'd been imagining the spark she had felt then, but now she knew it was real. Intense.

His hand gently tangled in her hair as he slowly deepened the kiss, his tongue stroking her lips lightly, silently seeking permission.

She sat up straight so she could be closer to him and parted her lips for him, lifting her hands to his arms. They had had sex already, but somehow, this felt so much more intimate. She knew she'd been in shock then, but just kissing him right then felt a thousand times more powerful than that night had.

Oliver slid his other arm around her waist, tugging her closer to him and urging her onto his lap, wanting to be closer to her. This was how he'd wanted to kiss her that night, slow and intense and exploring. It just hadn't turned out that way. They'd both been too traumatized by her disappearance--her because of what she'd seen, him because of not knowing whether he'd ever see her again. He brushed his nose lightly against hers, kissing the corner of her mouth ever-so-softly.

With a leg on each side of him, she wrapped her arms around his neck and shifted closer, wanting to be closer to him now too. There was no going back now, she might as well make the best of it. Turning her head slightly, she pressed her lips to his cheek then pulled back slightly and looked at him, they were almost eye-to-eye now that she was sitting on his lap.

He smiled warmly, gently stroking his hand up and down her spine. "Hi," he murmured, feeling himself relaxing.

Chloe shivered softly then smiled a little at him, shyly, "hi."

Keeping his arms around her so she didn't tumble backwards, he scooted back in the chair, nuzzling her nose with his once more. "When we get all this crap taken care of, I'm giving you a proper tour of Italy," he informed her.

She smiled a little more at that and lifted a hand to his hair, running her fingers through it slowly, "sounds like fun," she said quietly, "but what are we doing when we get back? I live in Kansas and you live in California."

"Well." He smiled, as well. "I do have an office in Metropolis. And a private jet." He smiled back at her. "We'll figure it out."

Chloe relaxed a little more and nodded a little, looking at him for a moment before leaning in and kissing him again. She had lost count how many times she'd wished she could kiss him in the past few days so now that she could just do it, she planned on doing it a lot.

He kissed her back without hesitation, leaning back farther in the chair. He had a feeling he could really get used to this.


	11. Chapter 11

  
  


The article came out two days ago and it felt like the entire world was talking about it. All the major papers had published quotes from it and Chloe had even managed to write a follow-up, small article exclusively for the Planet. She had even managed to email her dad, Lois and Clark to let them know she was okay and she would be home as soon as it was safe. Which should be soon now. Possibly by tomorrow.

But right now, she was standing next to Oliver, her hand wrapped tightly around his behind the podium where they stood, answering questions after the press conference Queen Industries had just set up. Bart had ran them to California in them morning and no one even knew they had been in Italy.

She had been incredibly nervous when the press conference started but the more she saw the shock, horror, compassion and fury on people's faces, the more comforted she felt. She knew they were getting to them and she knew they believed them, which meant the authorities would have no choice but to do something about Supermax, and while she knew that didn't stop Lex, she also knew he would have to shut down most if not all his current projects if he didn't want to get caught.

"That's all the questions we're taking for now," Oliver said, giving Chloe's hand a gentle squeeze. "Thank you for your time, and for your compassion."

"Thank you," she said too. She knew this was far from the last interview they would be giving, and as much as she hated being the interviewee and not the interviewer, she knew it was necessary for the time being. Chloe squeezed his hand back then let go of it as she stepped down from the podium and toward the small door to the side of the room.

He ushered her inside even as reporters surged forward, still calling out questions for them. He shut the door behind them and raised his eyebrows at her. "Well, I think that went well."

Chloe took a deep breath and nodded a little, looking up at him, "I think so too. They looked like they believed us."

Oliver nodded a little. "It's gonna be a long road ahead." In addition to investigating Supermax, he knew the judge that had sentenced him to staying there was also being investigated, and there were already ties found that linked him back to Lex Luthor.

"I know," she said quietly, "but as long as we stop this from happening again, it's worth it."

He nodded in agreement, stepping closer and dipping his head to kiss her with the door opened quickly and slammed shut. He blinked, his eyes widening as he caught sight of a man and a woman he'd never seen before standing before them.

"Chloe!" Lois moved forward and wrapped her arms around her cousin tightly.

Chloe had nearly been tackled by her cousin, the only reason she was still standing was because she had a hand on Oliver's arm and her other hand had wrapped around the arm that was suddenly wrapped around her front. "Lois?" She gasped, looking at her then over at Clark, "... _Clark_?"

Oliver raised his eyebrows, looking between the two new arrivals.

"Hi," he said quietly, gazing at Chloe.

She took a deep breath, her eyes tearing up a little and she wrapped an arm around her cousin properly then held her other arm out to Clark, smiling softly at him.

Clark smiled brightly at her and stepped closer, hugging both of them tightly.

Oliver stepped back, out of the way, letting the three of them have their reunion. He rubbed the back of his neck, feeling distinctly out of place.

Chloe took a deep breath and grinned brightly at the two of them as she pulled back after a moment, "what are you doing here?"

"Lois demanded to see you as soon as we heard the press conference was over." Clark told her.

"You look good." Lois smiled at her cousin, reaching out and touching her hair. "Especially considering where you've been for weeks."

"I had a few days to pull myself together and a lot of help," she said quietly, smiling at Oliver as she turned to look at him, "this is my cousin Lois and this is my friend Clark," she introduced, "and I'm sure you two know who he is."

"Not really," Clark responded, glancing at the other man warily.

"I'm Oliver," he said, offering them both a friendly smile and extending his hand.

"Really, Clark?" Chloe took her head. "Oliver Queen, from Queen Industries AKA the Green Arrow? What did I tell you about reading at least one newspaper a week?" She teased as the two of them shook hands.

"Plus I've only been talking about Green Arrow for the last two months," Lois complained, shooting Clark a look. "You never pay attention when I talk."

"Well, Lois, maybe that's because you're _always_ talking." Clark smirked at her, raising his eyebrows.

An amused smile touched Oliver's mouth and he glanced at Chloe sideways.

Chloe arched her eyebrows, smirking and looking from Ollie to the two of them, "it's good to see you two," she told them, turning to her cousin, "how's dad?"

"Relieved you're okay," Lois supplied, shooting Clark a glare.

"Are they always like this?" Oliver murmured to Chloe.

Chloe shook her head a little, "less flirty, before anyway." She told him then looked back at Lois, "good, I can't wait to see him and hopefully I'll get to see him soon."

Clark smirked at Lois and shrugged a little.

"Well, we can take you back to Smallville," Lois offered hopefully.

"I can't go yet, Lo," Chloe told her cousin and took a deep breath then glanced at Oliver.

"Why not?" Clark frowned.

Oliver rubbed the back of his neck, and glanced back at Chloe, not sure what she wanted him to say or do.

"Because we need to make sure people believe in our story," she said quietly, looking away from Oliver, "Lex will be after us now."

"We can protect you, Chloe," Clark told her, shaking his head a little.

"It's not just about me, Clark."

Oliver pursed his lips, glancing at Chloe and then at Clark and Lois.

"Your dad misses you," Clark told her.

Chloe held her breath and looked down then nodded a little. "I miss him too. But I need to make sure it's safe for me to be around him first."

Oliver reached out and rested a hand lightly at the small of her back, sadness washing over him at the look on her face.

"Tell him I'm sorry?" She said quietly, looking back at Lois now.

"I will." She looked down and then at Chloe once more, her gaze shifting to Oliver and his close proximity. She raised her eyebrows a little, but remained silent for the moment.

Chloe took a deep breath and straightened then nodded, "you guys should go," she said, "I don't want them coming after you, especially you," she told Clark.

He was quiet for a few seconds, then he stepped forward and hugged her tightly. "Be safe."

She hugged him back and nodded a little, "you too."

Clark let her go reluctantly, then stepped back, watching as Lois hugged her again, too. "You better at least email me daily until you come back."

Chloe smiled softly and nodded, hugging her cousin tightly, "I will."

"Love you," she whispered, reluctantly letting her go, as well. She eyed Oliver. "You'd better keep her safe, Boy Wonder."

"Love you too, Lo," she said quietly, glancing at Oliver.

"I'll do everything in my capability of making sure she stays safe," Oliver said quietly, nodding and glancing back at Chloe.

"I'll see you soon," Chloe promised, looking from Oliver back to the two of them.

Clark looked at Oliver for a moment, frowning and then picking Lois up and taking off quickly.

Chloe noticed the look and rolled her eyes slightly then shook her head, "sorry," she told Oliver, turning to face him once more, "they're both overprotective."

"It's okay," he assured her with a small smile.

"Should we get back?" She asked, they had only been to his penthouse briefly before the conference but she knew he had the best security available at the place, plus Bart and Victor and she'd feel safer there, would feel like _he_ was safer there because she knew he was the biggest target out of all of them.

Oliver nodded a little, sliding his arms around her waist and dipping his head to kiss her softly. "Thank you."

She kissed him back but pulled back after a moment, arching her eyebrows, "what are you thanking me for?"

"For standing with me out there," he admitted with a small smile.

"I wanted to," she told him quietly, lifting a hand to his hair and brushing her fingers through it. She held her breath, searching his eyes for a moment, "would you come to Kansas with me when it's safe?"

"I'd love to," he said just as quietly, holding her gaze as he leaned into her touch.

Chloe let out her breath and relaxed a little, her chest warm all of the sudden as she smiled softly and kissed him once more. She'd been afraid he'd say no and she really couldn't wait to see her dad again but she also wanted to make sure Oliver was safe. If he came home with her, she could do both at once and also have him spend more time with Clark and Lois so they could all know each other better because even if things didn't work out between them in the long run, she didn't want him to not have someone to miss anymore.

He rested his forehead against hers. "Come on," he whispered. "Let's get out of here."

She took a deep breath and nodded a little, pulling back and dropping her hand from his hair then reaching for his hand as she held his gaze and smiled softly, "yeah, let's go."

Oliver laced his fingers through hers and gave her hand a gentle squeeze. The coming months would be dangerous, but at least neither one of them would have go through it alone.

~Fini~


End file.
